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Yanan Tribes 

(Yana and Yahi)

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Ethnie: YANAN TRIBES
Language: Yanan
Family: Yanan
Stock: Western Hokan
Phylum: Hokan
Macro-Culture: Kuksu

 

 

 

 

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The Yanan tribes were comprised of the Yana and the Yahi, and were all of the speakers of the Yanan language(s). They were semi-sedentary hunter/gatherers, and considered to be formidable warriors. They lived in remote mountainous territory from the Pit River south to Rock Creek and from the edge of the upper Sacramento Valley to the headwaters of the eastern tributaries of the Sacramento River. Most survived only a few years after the White influx. Ishi, the famous last survivor of the Yahi, and a handful of northern Yana lived into the next century.
Aboriginal Locations
Divisions (villages):  Central Yana (13), Northern Yana (3), Southern Yana (1), Yahi (8)
Present Locations
Extinct
Year History
1850 Encroachments into territories as a result of the gold rush
1865 Yahi band slaughtered by group of settlers
1910 40 full and mixed bloods per Kroeber
1916 Death of last Yahi survivor, Ishi, at University of California, Berkeley
Year Population Source
1700 1,500 NAHDB calculation
1770 1,500 Kroeber estimate
1800 1,500 NAHDB calculation
1900 50 NAHDB calculation
1910 40 Kroeber
1930 9 Census
2000 0 NAHDB calculation
Other speakers of the same language:
None
Yanan Tribes Sites:
Cultural History of Lassen Park    http://www.shastahome.com/lassen-volcanic/content.htm
The Gold Rush Legacy:  Greed, Pollution, and Genocide    http://www.earthisland.org/eijournal/spring98/sp98g_wr.htm
The Human Remains of Ishi    http://nmnhwww.si.edu/anthro/repatriation/ishirep.htm
Ishi    http://www.ucsf.edu/about_ucsf/history_philosophy/ishi.html
Ishi:  A Real Life Last of the Mohicans    http://nmnhwww.si.edu/anthro/repatriation/ishirep.htm
Ishi Page (photos)    http://www.gilanet.com/amerabo/ishipage.htm
Ishi:  The Last Yahi    http://www.library.ucsf.edu/sc/hist/ishi/
Ishi's Bow at the Phoebe Hearst Museum    http://www.thegrid.net/thebicyclingguitarist/ishi/bow.htm
"Last Wild Indian" May Finally Rest in Peace    http://ngnews.com/news/1999/03/030999/ishi.asp
Long-Lost Preserved Brain Found (Ishi)    http://www.anusha.com/ishibran.htm
The Repatriation of Ishi    http://www.mnh.si.edu/anthro/ishitop.htm
Who Was Ishi?    http://www.urel.berkeley.edu/berkeleyan/1996/0214/ishi.html
Who Was Ishi?    http://www.ucsf.edu/daybreak/1998/10/02_ishi.html
Yana - SFSU Narrative    http://bss.sfsu.edu/calstudies/Native%20Web%20Pages/yana.html

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