Author Description

A strong understanding of material culture – that is, tools, containers, clothing, and myriad other kinds of artifacts that people make – is required for a true understanding of any culture as a whole. In the encyclopedic five volume series, The Material Culture of the Chumash Interaction Sphere, Travis Hudson and Thomas Blackburn carefully document virtually every type of cultural artifact known to have been made and used by the Chumash and the neighboring peoples with whom they traded both goods and ideas. This series combines information from historic, ethnographic, and archaeological sources to provide a more comprehensive picture of lifeways of the Native Americans populating the Santa Barbara Channel region. Volume IV focuses on social ceremony and activities. This topic is presented through ethnographic accounts, artifact descriptions, illustrations, and photographs in chapters pertaining to ritual structures and settings, ritual paraphernalia, medical instruments, weapons, musical instruments, and items used in recreational pursuits including games, sports, toys, and other amusements.