Tomol

For places in Iran, seeTomol, Iran (disambiguation).

Atomolout at sea pictured in 2015. Each year, the Chumash community crosses fromChannel Islands HarbortoLimuw(Santa Cruz Island) in a 17.2-mile journey (27.7 km).

Atomolortomolo(Chumash) orte'aatorti'at(Tongva/Kizh) are plank-builtboats,historically and currently in theSanta Barbara, CaliforniaandLos Angelesarea. They replaced or supplementedtule reedboats. The boats were between 10–30 feet (3.0–9.1 m) in length and 3–4 feet (0.91–1.22 m) in width. The Chumash refer to thetomolas the "House of the Sea" for their reliability. Double-bladedkayak-like paddles are used to propel the boat through the ocean. Some sources suggest the boats may have origins atCatalina Islandand have been in use for thousands of years.Others suggest an origin on the Northern Channel Islands during the first millennium CE.Thetomolhas been described as "the single most technologically complex watercraft built in North America" and as being unique to "theNew World."

The boats are still constructed by Chumash, Tongva/Kizh, andAcjachemenpeople today.

Construction

Tomolswere preferably built out ofredwoodthat had drifted down the coast.When supplies of redwood were lacking, local nativepinewas used. When splitting the wood withwhaleboneorantler wedgesthe crafters would seek straight planks without knotholes, then sand them with sharkskin. To bind the wood together, small holes were drilled in the planks so they could be lashed to one another. Finally, the seams were caulked with 'yop', a mixture ofhard tarandpine pitchmelted and then boiled. A crossplank at midship reinforced the boat and functioned as a seat. Another coat of 'yop' was used towaterproofthe boat, followed by a coat ofred ochre paint,followed by a final coat ofsealant.Shell mosaics were often added as decorations.

This style of boat is unique in the Americas, though researcher Yorem Meroz notes that a simpler plank boat is found inChileandstrakeswere sewn ontodugout boatbases in thePacific NorthwestandCaribbean.The boats could take up to 500 days to be constructed by an experienced boatmaker.Tomolsare propelled with kayak-like paddles with the user in a crouching position, unlike kayaks where sitting is the norm. They are highly maneuverable.

Significance

Eva Pagaling (Santa Ynez Chumash) described the process of paddling in 2018: "During the crossing, a deep memory that’s shared among paddlers is that each pull of the oar is a prayer. And this year, I prayed for my loved ones, as well as everyone else in this world. I prayed for strength and healing for all people, wherever they may be on their path in life. Historically, we are water people and our medicine for the world can be found in the sacred and life-sustaining power of water."

Cindi Alvitre, co-founder of Ti'at Society, described the boat in 2019 as "a vessel that allows humans to connect to the underworld." According to an Indigenous worldview, as Alvitre describes: "You have the underworld, which is watery existence, those deities that live underneath the ocean in their caves, the middle world, that's the existence of human beings, to the upper world, that's ancestral space. Theti'atis like an observation point, it's like you're hovering over the heavens of the underworld and being able to still have that connection to that ancestral space, to the stars, to theMilky Way."

History

Artist rendition of a historical Chumashtomol.

Tomolswere an integral part of a widespread trading network between tribes who lived at what is now referred to asPoint Conception,Santa Monica Bay,and theChannel Islands.There were designated shipping routes andsignal fireswere utilized on the land were used as aides for navigation. Most trade occurred between what are now two of the largest trading ports,Los AngelesandLong Beach,which was about a day's paddle.The use of plank canoes would have been critical for reaching the most outlying Channel Islands including San Nicolas and San Clemente.

Tomolswere so useful as to give rise to a new class in Chumash society: aguildknown as the 'Brotherhood of the Canoe' which was "responsible for the construction of each new tomol, its boat-building knowledge handed down through the generation from seniorcraftsmantoapprentice.Only male members of leading families were allowed to owntomol.Grizzlyorblack bearskinidentified the owners. When carefully maintained, the boats could last for decades and were passed down from one generation to the next.

By 650 A.D., it is believed thetomolorte'aatwas already of central importance to the Chumash and Tongva/Kizh respectively.In 1542, Spanish explorerJuan Rodriguez Cabrillorecorded that he saw so manytomolshauled up at a particular wealthy village—a location eventually to be referred to by latersettlersasMalibu—that he named itpueblo de las canoasor "town of canoes." Another explorer recorded the brotherhood doing boat carpentry in another village, and named itCarpinteria.

Some scholars report that sewn plank technology may have been introduced by earlyPolynesiannavigatorssometime late in thefirst millennium,who had constructed sewn plank boats and had been known to have reachedSouth America.Scholars state that "three native Californian boat terms are argued to be Polynesian loans: Chumashantomol(o),and Gabrielinotarainxa(ortaraina) andti?at."Some modern Chumash and Tongva/Kizh state that “this is something we have always known happened."This was further explained in a short documentary episode by KCET produced in 2019.

Partially intact tomols have been found in ancient Channel Islandsmiddensalong with dolphin bones, seal and fish bones, and abalone, clam, and limpet shells. TheSanta Barbara Museum of Natural History,the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum, and The Chumash Maritime Association of California house reconstructedtomolscreated by contemporary Chumash.

Gallery

• 
  Paddlers making the crossing to Santa Cruz Island aboard the reconstructedtomol‘Elye’wun,in 2006.
• 
  Tomolcrossing Channel Islands in 2012

Resources

• "Dark Water Journey: Power of memories guides paddler on historic crossing"by Eva Pagaling
• S2 E1: Rethinking the Coast with the Ti'at Society,fromTending NatureonKCET
• Baby Ti’at: The Making of a Traditional Canoe,ibid.