Tomol

Tomol. Connecting the Chumash. , Crossing the Ocean , The Chumash paddled tomols - plank canoes - across the Santa Barbara Channel to fish, to trade, and to maintain kinship ties. Tomol builders occupied an elite place in Chumash society due to their special skills and knowledge of the construction and use of tomols. , , Fishing line and hooks (made of shell), nets, traps, and harpoons were all used to fish from the tomol. Large, aggressive species - including swordfish, marlin, tuna, sea bass and shark , were caught, as were anchovy and sea mammals. , , The tomol made regular cross-channel trade between the mainland and the islands possible. Exports included stone vessels and tools, baskets, seeds, acorns, deer, asphaltum, and otter pelts. Travel for social purposes was also common. , , Culture Bearers , Much of what is known about the language and traditional customs of the coastal Chumash prior to the arrival of Europeans, and during the mission era, comes to us from Chumash elders. In the 1910s Fernando Librado Kitsepawit, from the Ventura area, and Luisa Ygnacio Nu'tu, born at Mission Santa Barbara, shared their experiences, memories, and knowledge of their native culture with anthropologist Alfred Kroeber of the University of California and linguist John P. Harrington of the Smithsonian Institution. , , Crafting a Tomol , Wood for a tomol came from driftwood logs - pine, fir, or redwood , split into planks with stone chisels and whale bone wedges. Planks were then boiled in clay-lined pits to make them pliable. Planks were 'sewn' together with waxed tok , a milkweed fiber cordage , threaded through holes drilled with chert. Seams were caulked with yop, an adhesive mix of melted pine pitch and woqo - hard asphaltum mined from local coastal deposits. Lastly, the tomol was sanded with sharkskin, stained with red ocher and decorated with seashell inlays.