HANDBOOK OF NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS, Volume 8 - California [SOLD]

HANDBOOK OF NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS, Volume 8 – California

Robert F. Heizer, Volume Editor

Hardback, first edition, 1978, excellent condition, 800 pages, illustrations, maps, photographs, drawings

Summary

This volume provides an account of the aboriginal culture of each tribe and a sketch of its history from the time each came under the domination of Whites, whether this was in the 1770s in one of the Franciscan missions along the coast or as late as 1849 or 1850 in the far northern and Sierra Nevada regions.

This is the first to be published of a 20-volume set planned to give an encyclopedic summary of what is known about the prehistory, history, and cultures of the aboriginal peoples of North America who lived to the north of the urban civilizations of central Mexico.  Volumes 5-7 and 9-15 treat the other major culture areas of the continent.

The aim of this volume is to provide a summary of what is presently known of the aboriginal culture forms and practices of about 60 California tribes.  The background for these syntheses is provided in the form of a series of articles that describe the environment, prehistoric archaeology, historical archaeology, language classification, culture, population numbers since the time of European discovery, and the history of exploration and settlement by Whites.  Certain topics of general interest, about which only brief mention is made in the ethnological summaries, have been treated separately at the end.