A Place to Gather and Work

A Place to Gather and Work. . If you stood here in 1848, you would have seen a Nisenan village of bark structures and people busy with the tasks of daily life., The chaws-se, or grinding rock, was a key part of village life. We know from the many deep holes pounded into it, that this chaw-se was used for hundreds if not thousands of years to grind acorns. It reminds us of the generations of women and children who gathered here to talk, laught, and sing while they prepared food for their families., We ask visitors to please stay off the rock out of respect for its importance to the Nisenan people’s heritage. , Grandmother Rock , Our people say this rock is as old as time, and if you knew how to listen, she would speak of how the Earth was formed. She might reminisce of the thousands of years the women would gather at this very site and grind their acorns. They would sit atop and fill the chaw-se, the mortar holes, with whole acorns. Then they would start to pound and grind the nutmeat into a fine powder. All the while, they would sing songs to the rhythm of the pounding., She would tell of the babies that were held in cradleboards while the women worked, of the laughter and energy of the children playing just below, and of the men setting their nets across the river to catch fish. These were the Nisenan and Miwok, meaning, “The People.” , - Kimberly ShiningStar Petree, El Dorado Miwok, A Staple of Nisenan Life , The Nisenan enjoyed a varied diet of foods that included roots, tubers, fish, game, berries, and nuts. However, the center of their diet was the nutritious and storable acorn., Preparing acorns was a long process. Acorns had to be gathered, stored, shelled, ground, and sifted multiple times, and then leached for several hours to remove the bitter tannins. The acorn meal was then dried and stored until it was needed for mush, soup, or bread. Such a long task was made easier when done by a group at places like this large community chaw-se.