Oakbrook Chumash Interpretive Center
Dwayne Palasek from Ray Wiltsey Middle School: . . . . Sat, Aug 3, 9:07PM PST (-0800 GMT)
A Field Trip to the Chumash Interpretive Center in Thousand Oaks and the Marine Floating Lab in Ventura On Wednesday, May 23, 2002, some Ray Wiltsey Middle School students went on a field trip to Thousand Oaks and Ventura. In Thousand Oaks we visited the grounds of a former Chumash Indian Village. We spent three hours walking the grounds, visiting the museum, viewing a slide show, and making Indian rock art. This is the group of kids at the entrance to the center.
button This is a Chumash tomol. This is the type of boat that the Indians used as a vehicle to visit the various Channel Islands. We walked to the area where the shinny field was located. Shinny was a game that could played when two Chumash tribes argued over hunting grounds or something similar. The rules of the games were there are no rules. A shinny ball (the knot from a tree) was struck with a shinny stick. The ball would be hit between the two poles. There was no referee and therefore no fouls. After playing for several hours to a couple of days, the game would end by one side saying to the other “Let’s go fishing!” Shinny field. Shinny ball. Shinny stick. The hoop was use for a target practice game where Indians would try to shoot an arrow or throw a spear through the hoop as the hoop is rolled along the ground. This is an ap. The woman built the house. The door always faced east, so to get the first rays of the rising sun. Since the woman made the ap, she could decide if the man was no longer welcome. If she wanted to divorce him, she would simply place his thing outside of the ap and he was banished from the house.This ap has a cement coating on the outside to preserve it. The inside of the ap is authentic. This ap has a 20-foot diameter.
We had fun painting some Indian art on rocks.
Close up of students at work on their artwork.
This is a display of Chumash tools before and after the Spanish exploration.
Inside of the museum we treated to learning a Chumash Indian chant. The students kept time with various Chumash rattles. The black on the various rattles is Chumash version of super glue. It is made of 50-50 mixture of tar and pine resin. The basket was use to trap fish in a stream. The Chumash revered the bear. The medicine man would wear the bearskin to give him authority and power. The Chumash invented the reusable arrow and spear. The shaft of the arrow and spear were dilled out and an arrow tip or spear tip would be inserted. The arrow tip and spear tip would enter the target animal. The shaft would drop off as the animal ran through the bushes. The shaft would then be picked up, a new point inserted into the shaft and then the arrow or spear would be ready to be used again.
Then we headed off to the Oxnard harbor for our oceanography trip!