Indian Myths Of South Central California

What It's About

Based on fieldwork conducted between 1901 and 1906 as part of the Ethnological and Archaeological Survey of California, this paper records the traditional narratives of the Costanoan (Ohlone), Miwok, Yokuts and neighbouring Shoshonean-speaking peoples of California's south central region — an area whose mythology was, at the time, far less documented than that of the state's northern or southern regions.

Key Concepts

The collection focuses on creation narratives and origin stories, and situates them in comparison with the better-known mythologies of northern central and southern California, drawing out shared themes and regional differences across the tribal groups covered.

About the Author

Alfred Louis Kroeber (1876–1960) was an American anthropologist, born in Hoboken, New Jersey. He earned his doctorate under Franz Boas at Columbia University in 1901, after which he spent the bulk of his career at the University of California, Berkeley, as a professor of anthropology and director of the university's anthropology museum. He became one of the most influential figures in early twentieth-century American anthropology.