The Kawaiisu Culture Imagine living in a world without shopping
malls, grocery stores, television, or cars. In this world, you
would have to rely on your knowledge of your surroundings and
your ability to make the most of available resources for your
survival. To preserve these resources, your beliefs and values
would need to reflect respect for the land and all (plant,
vegetable, animal) who inhabit it. You would need to hunt or
gather your own food as well as materials for tools, clothing
and shelter. Since you don't have a mall, everything would need
to be made from scratch. Add to this the beauty of an unspoiled
landscape, and you have a very simple picture of life as it used
to be at Tomo-Kahni. Tomo-Kahni, or Winter Home, is a historic
Kawaiisu Native American village site. Nestled atop a ridge in
the Tehachapi Mountains, and overlooking the Tehachapi Valley,
the site offered plentiful resources for the former residents.
There is evidence that Native Americans lived in the southern
Sierra Nevada mountai