NEO-TIPAI TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE: ADAPTABILITY
A Bibliographic Study Approach
by Paul G. Chace,Presidio Heritage Trust, of San Diego, PGC 27 July 2019
This essay, with all of its references, represents an attempt to organize 'traditional' Native Tipai knowledge. The study focused on the southern Tipai, including those of Baja California often overlooked in "American" studies. Upon pulling this knowledge altogether, the realized result was unexpected. Rather than being traditional, it appeared that there is a remarkable 'adaptability' represented. There is not one basic traditional knowledge, but a diversity of knowledge both over time and between localized groups.
It appeared that amidst dynamic historically changing circumstances, Native Tipai 'tradition' became regionally adaptive and necessarily evolutionary. Further, it seemed that 'tradition' could reside freely within each individual, and it was not dictated across localized groups. Thus, it appeared appropriate to re-title this Native knowledge-group, which too often has being simply entitled as being an assumed "tribe" or "nation." This dynamic Native group better might be recognized as Neo-Tipai.
Such Neo-Tipai evolutionary adaptability, as a theoretical proposition, was proposed in 1966 by Dr. Roger Owen for the small Native Tipai bands with their friends in the isolated Sierra San Pedro Martir and Sierra Juarez of northern Baja California (Owen 1966b). Owen described and concluded that their choice of historic survival in the mountain life was essentially "evolutionary." This perspective was further elaborated in describing the 1966 Kuruk ceremony organized there (Michelsen and Owen 1967). Recently such an "adaptation" view was applied in understanding the dynamic El Capitan reservation Tipai story (Thorne 2012). This theoretical proposition seemed applicable throughout the available assembled here Neo-Tipai literature.
Importantly, essentially all these materials of published knowledge came from Neo-Tipai 'oral tradition.' These were and remain real Neo-Tipai tellings. A Neo-Tipai speaker chose to provide the voice, with a conscientiously concerned listener, a person who would put the words into written form, -- and even have them published, for posterity. The able listener, admittedly, usually was a 'white guy.' The Neo-Tipai typically was friendly, permitted the inquiry, probably often sharing sustenance, and usually even invited the good listener to observe the happening and any ritual involved. Thus, altogether, with these published references, this Neo-Tipai personal knowledge now is shared.
There is a grand plethora of now published knowledge materials on the Neo-Tipai. All should be assembled in any good library for future studies.
Emphasize in this study effort focused upon: (1) the important Neo-Tipai Kuruk ceremony for the dead, (2) materials items associated with the concern for the dead, (3) shamanism and religious leadership, and (4) social organizational patterns. These topics highlight and clearly support the Neo-Tipai evolutionary adaptability theoretical proposition.
The important Kuruk ceremonial death rituals of the Neo-Tipai are described; including early ceremonies and specifically those of 1904, 1908, 1935 -- as well as the detailing the 1966 Kuruk ceremony organized for "Tipai" Eugenio Albanez KwatL (DuBois 1905, 1907b, 1908a, and 1908b; Waterman 1910; Davis 1919 and 1921; Spier 1923; Drucker 1937 and 1941; Michelsen and Owen 1967; Woodward 1968; and Edward Davis 1968).
Associated certainly with the concern for the deceased and Kuruk rituals are religious items such as the shaman's wooden tablas, wands, pipes, and capes of human hair (Meigs 1939 and 1970, Aschmann 1968, Massey 1972, Hedges 1973, and Williams 1975).
Details studies on shamanism and religious leadership powers are represented (DuBois 1908, Waterman 1909 and 1910, Davis 1919, Spier 1923, Toffelmier and Luomala 1936, Owen 1966, Meigs 1972 and 1974, Luomala 1978 and Shipek 1992).
Neo-Tipai social organizational patterns, with their historic changes, reorganization, disintegration, and evolution clearly are represented (Spier 1923, Bee 1963, Luomala 1963, Hinton, and Owen 1957, Owens 1965, Shipek 1982, Hohenthal 2001, Carrico 2017, and Wilken-Robertson 2018).
Previous biographies on the Tipai/Kumeyaay/Diegueno have been organized (Price and Smith 1971, Almstedt 1974, Luomala 1978, and White and Fitt 1997). Omitted here are published reference works on the basic regional archaeology, rock art studies, area histories, and regional linguistics; and there are many. The focus in this bibliographic study are the published sources of traditional knowledge for the Neo-Tipai, Happily, they are rich and abundant.
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NEO-TIPAI LITERATURE KNOWLEDGE
Almstedt, Ruth Farrell
1974 Bibliography of the Diegueno Indians. Ballena Press, Ramona.
1977 Diegueno Curing Practices. San Diego Museum of Man, San Diego.
Alvarez de Williams, Anita
1995 Bark Skirts of the Californias. Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 31(1 & 2):56-78.
Alvarez, Ila
1972 Chepa: A Kiliwi. Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 8(1):41-44.
Aschmann, Homer
1949 A Metate Maker of Baja California. American Anthropologist 51(0):682-686.
1956 A Primitive Food Preparation Technique in Baja California. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 8(1):36-39.
1966 The Natural and Human History of Baja California. Dawson's Book Shop, Los Angeles.
1968 Historical Accounts and Archaeological Discoveries Working Together; Two Scholarly Disciplines Enlarge Our Understanding of the Extinct Indians of Baja California. Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 4(1):46-51.
1986 Learning About Baja California Indians. Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 8(2):238-245.
Bee, Robert L.
1963 Changes in Yuma Social Organization. Ethnology 2(2):207-227.
Carrico, Richard L.
2008 Strangers in a Stolen Land, Indians of San Diego County from Prehistory to the New Deal. Sunbelt Publications, San Diego.
2017 Clans and Shimulls/Sibs of Western San Diego County. Society for California Archaeology Proceedings 31:9-17.
Chace, Paul G.
1965 Aboriginal Filter Cigarettes in Baja California. Archaeological Research Associates Bulletin 1(2):2.
1967 A Note on Decorative Pottery in Baja California. Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 3(1):50-52.
1969 Biological Archaeology of Some Coastal Middens. Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 5(2):64-77.
2017 Sigarros & Aboriginal Filter Cigarettes. PHT Citadel Newsletter 1(4):2.
2017 A Tribute to Rufino Uchurte (189?-1977). PHT Citadel Newsletter 1(4):2.
2017 Crucifixes: Faith & Resistance. PHT Citadel Newsletter 1(5):2.
2018 Sebastian Tarabal, Bold Native Guide. PHT Citadel Newsletter 2(2):1.
2018 A Man of Two Worlds, Naleipoco of Otay. PHT Citadel Newsletter 2(5):1.
2019a The Social Evolution of Northern Baja California Indian Bands [Review, by Paul G. Chace.] PHT Citadel Newsletter 3(2):1.
2019b Kumeyaay Occupational Patterns [Review of Carrico 2017]. PHT Citadel Newsletter 3:(in process).
Davis, Edward H.
1919 The Diegueno Ceremony of the Death Images. Contributions from the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation 5(2).
1921 Early Cremation Ceremonies of the Luiseno and Diegueno Indians of Southern California. Indian Notes and Monographs 7(3):93-110. Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, New York.
Davis, Edward H., Edited by Paul G. Chace
1967 Diegueno Basketry and Pottery, by Edward H. Davis. Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 3(1):58-64.
Davis, Edward H., Edited by Helen C. Smith
1968 Yuma Koorook Ceremony, Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 4(1):39-45.
Davis, Emma Lou
1968 Painted Wooden Tablas of Northern Baja California. Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 4(1):52-54.
Drucker, Philip
1937 Culture Element Distributions: V, Southern California. Anthropological Records 1(1):1-52. University of California Press.
1941 Culture Element Distributions: XVII, Yuman-Piman. Anthropological Records 6(3):91-230. University of California Press.
DuBois, Constance
1901 The Mythology of the Dieguenos. Journal of American Folklore 14:181-185.
1904a Mythology of the Mission Indians. Journal of American Folklore 17:185-188.
1904b The Story of Chaup, A Myth of the Dieguenos. Journal of American Folklore 17:217-242.
1905 Religious Ceremonies and Myths of the Mission Indians American Anthropologist 7(4):620-629.
1907a Diegueno Mortuary Ollas. American Anthropologist 9:484-486.
1907b Two Types of Style of Diegueno Religious Dancing. International Congress of Americanists, 19th Session 2:135-138.
1908a Ceremonies and Traditions of the Diegueno Indians. Journal of American Folklore 21(81-82):228-236.
1908b The Religion of the Luiseno and Diegueno Indians of Southern California. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology 8(3):69-186.
Gifford, E. W.
1918 Clans and Moieties in Southern California. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology 14:155-219.
1931 The Kamia of the Imperial Valley. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 97. Washington, D.C.
1933 The Cocopa. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology 31(5).
Gifford, E. W., and Robert H. Lowe
1928 Notes on the Akwa'ala Indians of Lower California. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology 23:339-352.
Goldbaum, David
1918 Indian Tribes of the Northern District, Lower California. Ensenada, Baja California.
Hedges, Ken
1973 Painted Tablas from Northern Baja California. Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 9(1):5-19.
Hendricks, W. O.
1968 On an Attempt to Expel Some Yuma Indians from Baja California. Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 4(1):55-66.
1970 On an Attempt to Expel Some Yuma Indians from Baja California: Part II. Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 6(1):47-57.
Hinton, Thomas B., and Roger C. Owen
1957 Some Surviving Yuman Groups in Northern Baja California, Mexico. America Indigena 17(1). Inter-American Indian Institute, Washington.
Hohenthal, William D., Jr.
2001 Tipai Ethnographic Notes: A Baja California Indian Community at Mid-Century. [Edited by Thomas C. Blackburn]. Ballena Press, Novoto.
Luomala, Katharine
1963 Flexibility in Sib Affiliation Among the Diegueno. Ethnology 2(3):282-301.
1978 Tipai-Ipai. In, Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 8, California, pp. 592-609. Smithsonian Institution, Washington.
Massey, Lee Gooding
1972 Tabla and Atlatl: Two Unusual Wooden Artifacts from Baja California. Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 8(1):25-34.
Meigs, Peveril, III
1939 The Kiliwa Indians of Lower California. Ibero-Americana, No. 15:50-57.
1970 Capes of Human Hair from Baja California. Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 6(1):21-28.
1971 Creation Myth and Other Recollections of the Niji Mishkwish. Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 7(1):9-13.
1972 Notes on the La Huerta Jatam, Baja California: Place Names, Hunting, and Shamans. Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 8(1):35-40.
1974 Field Notes on the Shun and Jatam, Manteca, Baja California. Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 10(1):19-28.
Michelsen, Ralph C.
1967 Pecked Metates in Baja California. The Masterkey 41(2):73-77.
1968 A Tipai A-Frame House Built in 1963. Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 4(1):1.
1970 A Piece of Cordage. Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 6(1):1.
1970 “Making it” in Technologically Simple Society. Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 6(1):41-46.
1971 Petra Makes Paddle and Anvil Pottery. Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 7(1):2-8.
1972 The Making of Paddle and Anvil Pottery at Santa Catarina, Baja California, Mexico; Photographs by Ralph Michelsen [with Captions Edited by Helen C. Smith]. Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 8(1):2-9.
1974 Ethnographic Note on Agave Fiber Cordage. Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 10(1):39-41.
Michelsen, Ralph C., and Roger Owen
1967 A Kuruk Ceremony at Santa Catarina, Baja California, Mexico. Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 3(1):33-41.
Michelsen, Ralph C., and H. C. Smith
1967 Honey Collecting in Baja California, Mexico. Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 3(1):1.
Moriarty, James Robert, III
1970 A Synthesis of the Prehistory of Baja California. Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 6(1):2-12.
Moriarty, James Robert, III, and Norma Catherine Moriarty
1971 Prehistoric Sustenance Modes in Baja California. Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 7(1):14-23.
North, Arthur W.
1908 The Native Tribes of Lower California. American Anthropologist 10:236-250.
Owen, Roger C.
1958 Semi-Sedentary "Nomads" in Baja California. University of California at Los Angeles, Archaeological Survey, Annual Report. 1958:56-57.
1963 The Use of Plants and Non-Magical Techniques in Curing Illness Among the Paipai, Santa Catarina, Baja, California, Mexico. America Indigena 22(4).
1965 The Patrilocal Band: A Linguistically and Cultural Hybrid Social Unit. American Anthropologist 67(3).
1966a Rapport, Informant Reliability, and the Ethnographic Reconstruction of Events: An Incident of Witchcraft at Santa Catarina, Baja California, Mexico. Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 2(4)50-55.
1966b The Social Evolution of Northern Baja California Indian Bands. Proceeding of the Fourth Annual Baja California Symposium. Costa Mesa.
Price, John A.
1971 Baja California in Anthropological Theory: Desert Adaptation, Cul-De-Sac, Frontier, and Border. Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 7(1):27-33.
Price, John A., and Helen C. Smith
1971 A Bibliography on the Anthropology of Baja California. Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 7(1):39-69.
Shipek, Florence C.
1982 Kumeyaay Socio-Political Structure. Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 4(2):283-303.
1985 Kuuchamaa: The Kumeyaay Sacred Mountain. Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 7(1):67-74.
1991 Delfina Cuero: Her Autobiograhy, An Account of Her Last Years and Her Ethnobotanic Contributions. Ballena Press, Menlo Park.
1992 The Shaman: Priest, Doctor, Scientist. In California Indian Shamanism, pp. xx. Edited by Lowell J. Bean. Ballena Press, Menlo Park.
Shipek, Florence C., [with] Interpreter, Rosalie Pinto Robertson
1968 The Autobiography of Delfina Cuero, A Diegueno Indian. Dawson's Book Shop, Los Angeles.
Smith, Helen C, Editor
1971 Indians of Santa Catarina, Photographs from the Collection of Ralph C. Michelsen. Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 7(1):34-38.
Spier, Leslie
1923 Southern Diegueño Customs. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology 20(16):295-358.
Thorne, Tanis C.
2012 El Capitan, Adaptation and Agency on a Southern California Indian Reservation, 1850 to 1937. Malki-Bellena Press, Banning.
Toffelmier, Gertrude, and Katherine Luomala
1936 Dreams and Dream Interpretation of the Diegueno Indians of Southern California. Psychoanalytic Quarterly 5(2):195-225
Waterman, T. T.
1909 Analysis of the Mission Indian Creation Story. American Anthropologist n.s. 11(1):41-55.
1910 The Religious Practices of the Diegueno Indians. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology 8(6):271-358.
White, Phillip M., and Stephen D. Fitt
1997 Bibliography of the Indians of San Diego County: The Kumeyaay, Diegueno, Luiseno, and Cupeno. Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Md.
Wilken-Robertson, Michael
2001 Kumeyaay Ethnobotany. Sunbelt Publications, Inc., San Diego.
Williams, Anita Alvarez de
1973 Face and Body Painting in Baja California: A Summary. Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 9(1):21-26.
1975 Primeros Pobladores de Baja California. Gobierno del Estado, Mexicali.
Woodward, John A.
1968 The Anniversary: A Contemporary Diegueno Complex. Ethnology 7(11):68-94.