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Chowigna, California

Coordinates:33°46′N118°22′W/ 33.767°N 118.367°W/33.767; -118.367
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Chowigna
Former settlement
Chowigna is located in California
Chowigna
Chowigna
Location in California
Coordinates:33°46′N118°22′W/ 33.767°N 118.367°W/33.767; -118.367
CountryUnited States
StateCalifornia
CountyLos Angeles County
Elevation1,188 ft (362 m)

Chowigna(also,Unaungna) is a formerTongva-GabrieleñoNative Americansettlement inLos Angeles County,California.[2]

It was located in modern-dayPalos Verdes,Palos Verdes Peninsula.[2]

Name variations include: Chowiinga, Chowi, Unaungna, Chowigna, and Chowingna (nearSan Pedro).[3]

The Chowigna Village site at Malaga Cove has been inhabited for at least 7,100 years. It was first described by theCabrillo Expeditionin 1542.[4]It was excavated in 1936-37 by theSouthwest Museum of the Native Americansand theUniversity of Southern California.Among the thousands of artifacts retrieved were "arrowheads, mortars and pestles, scrapers and spoons made fromabalone,beads and art objects, bone tools, shells, "includingolivellaandgiant keyhole limpetshells, "and bones from food animals like mussels and birds... An estimated 150 people lived at the site in its last days, about 1775."[4][5]"The sitestratigraphyandmaterial cultureassemblage provided the central framework of early cultural chronological sequences for the region. "[4]

Artifacts of the Chowigna Native Americans are held by the Southwest Museum of the Native Americans and the Redondo Beach Historical Museum.[6][7]

The Chowigna Natives used the site of today's Hopkins Wilderness Park, formerly Nike missile site LA-57 from 1956 to 1963, inRedondo Beachas a lookout place.[8]The wetlands located at the site of today's AES power plant in Redondo Beach were a source of foods including halibut, lobster, and sea bass, and also of salt.[9]In the 18th century, the Chowigna bartered salt from the old Redondo Salt Lake, "a spring-fed salt lake about 200 yards wide and 600 yards long situated about 200 yards from the ocean", with other tribes.[10]Their village by the lake was called "Onoova-nga", or "Place of Salt." The Chowigna were relocated to missions in 1854, when Manuel Dominguez sold 215 acres ofRancho San Pedro,including the lake, to Henry Allanson and William Johnson for the Pacific Salt Works.[7][10][11]

The Chowignarancheriawas associated with theMission San Gabriel Arcángel.[12]

See also

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References

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  1. ^U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Palos Verdes
  2. ^abU.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Chowigna
  3. ^"Villages".Tongva People.Retrieved2014-03-15.
  4. ^abcFrazier, Sara."Protohistoric burial practices of the Gabrieleno as evidenced by the comparison of funerary objects from three Southern California sites"(PDF).Solstice Archaeological Consulting:169–176.Retrieved2014-03-15.
  5. ^Kalambakal, Vickey (2011-05-03)."Archaeology on the Peninsula".Palos Verdes, CA Patch.Retrieved2014-03-15.
  6. ^"Redondo Beach Historical Museum".City of Redondo Beach Website.Archived fromthe originalon 2014-03-15.Retrieved2014-03-15.
  7. ^abWelcome to the Redondo Beach Historical Museum: A self-guided tour
  8. ^Lacey, Marc (1992-04-17)."An Urban Oasis: Surrounded by condos sits a place the Chowigna Natives once used as a lookout spot. Today, people go there for an escape. - Los Angeles Times".Los Angeles Times.Retrieved2014-03-15.
  9. ^Brand, Bill.""Heart Park" Restoring Redondo Beach "(PDF).The Foggy View, Supplement to the March 2005 Southern Sierran, Sierra Club Palos Verdes - South Bay Group / Angeles Chapter.Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 2014-07-16.Retrieved2014-03-15.
  10. ^ab"SOUTH BAY HISTORY: Redondo Beach's salt lake".San Jose Mercury News.2010-05-20.Retrieved2014-03-15.
  11. ^"AES Power Plant Informational Brief"(PDF).Building a Better Redondo.2011-07-06. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 2013-11-26.Retrieved2013-06-16.
  12. ^"History of San Gabriel Arcangel Mission".Access Genealogy.13 July 2011.Retrieved2014-03-15.
  • Walker, Edwin Francis. (1936) Malaga Cove Field Notes; Southwest Museum Archives. Manuscript #220, Box #3.
  • Walker, Edwin Francis. (1952) Five Prehistoric Archaeological Sites in Los Angeles County. Reprinted in 1973. Los Angeles: Southwest Museum.
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