CALIFORNIA ATHABASCANGROUPS

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PUBLICATIONS

ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS

Editors (Berkeley): J. H. Rowe, R. F. Heizer, R. F. Murphy, E. NorbeckVolume 16, No. 5, pp. 157-238, plates 9-11, 2 figures in text, 18 maps

Submitted by editors May 6, 1957Issued August 1, 1958Price, $1.50

University of California PressBerkeley and Los AngelesCalifornia

Cambridge University PressLondon, England

Manufactured in the United States of America

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PREFACE

In March, 1950, the University of California assumed custodianship ofan extensive collection of original and secondary data referring toCalifornia Indian ethnology, made by Dr. C. Hart Merriam and originallydeposited with the Smithsonian Institution. Since that time the Merriamcollection has been consulted by qualified persons interested inlinguistics, ethnogeography, and other specialized subjects. Some ofthe data have been published, the most substantial publication being abook, Studies of California Indians (1955), which comprises essays andoriginal records written or collected by Dr. Merriam.

The selection and editing of the material for the Studies volume madeus aware of the extent of the detailed information on ethnogeographywhich a thorough survey of the Merriam data would provide. We thereforeapproached Dr. Leonard Carmichael, Secretary of the SmithsonianInstitution, with the proposal that a qualified graduate student beappointed as research assistant to study and prepare for publicationa discrete amount of Merriam record material, remuneration for thiswork to be paid from the E. H. Harriman fund, administered by theSmithsonian Institution for preparation and publication of Dr. Merriam'sethnological data. This proposal was approved, and Mr. Martin Baumhoffbegan his one year of investigation on September 15, 1955.

After discussion, we agreed that the area where tribal distributions,village locations, and aboriginal population numbers were leastcertainly known—and also a field where the Merriam data were fairlyabundant—was the territory of the several Athabascan tribes ofNorthwestern California. Under our direction, Baumhoff patientlyassembled all the available material on these tribes, producing what iscertainly the most definitive study yet made of their distribution andnumbers.

In this monograph the importance of the Merriam data is central,although they are compounded with information collected by otherstudents of the California Athabascans. We believe that the maps showinggroup distribution represent the closest possible approximation to theaboriginal situation that can now be arrived at.

The Department of Anthropology hopes to be able to continue the work ofstudying and publishing the Merriam data on tribal distributions. Ittakes this opportunity to express its appreciation of the coöperation ofthe Smithsonian Institution in this undertaking.

A. L. Kroeber

R. F. Heizer

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CONTENTS