The Wintu are Native Americans who live in what is now Northern California. They are part of a loose association of peoples known collectively as the Wintun. There are four major groups that make up the Wintu people. There northern Wintun (Wintu) and the Central Wintun (Namlaki) are most common. Others are the Nomlaki and the Patwin. The Wintu language is part of the Penutian language family but there are different dialects. Before the European colonization, different Wintun communities interacted with each other but were more inclined to communicate with others tribes to the east and west.
The Wintun are members of several related Native American peoples of Northern California, including the Wintu (northern), Nomlaki (central), and Patwin (southern). Their range is from approximately present-day Lake Shasta to San Francisco Bay, along the western side of the Sacramento River to the Coast Range. Each of these tribes speak one of the Wintuan languages. Linguistic and archaeological evidence suggests that the Wintun people probably entered the California area around 500 AD from what is now southern Oregon, introducing bow and arrow technology to the region. There has been Corbin dating of several artifacts by UC Berkeley that dates back to around 10,000 years, several of these artifacts have now been Repatriated. Despite being a major influence of the regions history there is still very little history on the Wintu due to centuries of Genocide & Displacement that still occur today along with continued destruction of sacred ceremonial & Religious sites often due to companies who ignore legal or ethical considerations.
Wintuan is a family of languages spoken in the Sacramento Valley of central Northern California.
The Nomlaki are a Wintun people native to the area of the Sacramento Valley, extending westward to the Coast Range in Northern California. Today some Nomlaki people are enrolled in the federally recognized tribes: Round Valley Indian Tribes, Grindstone Indian Rancheria or the Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians. The Nomlaki were bordered by the Wintu (Wintun) in the north, the Yana in the northeast and east, the Konkow (Maiduan) in the east, the Patwin (Wintun) in the south, and the Yuki in the west.
The traditional narratives of Native California are the folklore and mythology of the native people of California. For many historic nations of California, there is only a fragmentary record of their traditions. Spanish missions in California from the 18th century Christianized many of these traditions, and the remaining groups were mostly assimilated to US culture by the early 20th century. While there are sparse records from the 18th century, most material was collected during the 19th and the early 20th centuries.
Hupa traditional narratives include myths, legends, tales, and oral histories preserved by the Hupa, Chilula, and Whilkut people of the Trinity River basin and vicinity of northwestern California. The Hupa people of modern times number in the several thousands and live in the Hoopa Valley located in Humboldt County, California.
Karuk traditional narratives include myths, legends, tales, and oral histories preserved by the Karuk (Karok) people of the Klamath River basin of northwestern California.
Kumeyaay traditional narratives include myths, legends, tales, and oral histories preserved by the Kumeyaay people of southern California and northwestern Baja California.
Luiseño traditional narratives include myths, legends, tales, and oral histories preserved by the Luiseño people of southwestern California.
Maidu traditional narratives include myths, legends, tales, and oral histories preserved by the Maidu, Konkow, and Nisenan people of eastern Sacramento Valley and foothills in northeastern California.
Mohave traditional narratives include myths, legends, tales, and oral histories preserved by the Mohave people on the lower Colorado River in southeastern California, western Arizona, and southern Nevada.
Patwin traditional narratives include myths, legends, tales, and oral histories preserved by the Patwin peoples of the Wintun people of the southwestern Sacramento Valley in northern California.
Quechan traditional narratives include myths, legends, tales, and oral histories preserved by the Quechan (Yuma) people of the lower Colorado River area of southeastern California, southwestern Arizona, and northeastern Baja California.
Serrano traditional narratives include myths, legends, tales, and oral histories preserved by the Serrano people of the San Bernardino Mountains and southern Mojave Desert of southern California, originally in the Serrano language.
Shasta traditional narratives include myths, legends, tales, and oral histories preserved by the Shasta people of northern California and southern Oregon.
Wiyot traditional narratives include myths, legends, tales, and oral histories preserved by the Wiyot people of the Humboldt Bay area of northwestern California.
Yokuts traditional narratives include myths, legends, tales, and oral histories preserved by the Yokuts people of the San Joaquin Valley and southern Sierra Nevada foothills of central California.
Yuki traditional narratives include myths, legends, tales, and oral histories preserved by the Yuki people of the upper Eel River area of northwestern California.
Yurok traditional narratives include myths, legends, tales, and oral histories preserved by the Yurok people of the lower Klamath River in northwestern California.
Cora Alice Du Bois was an American cultural anthropologist and a key figure in culture and personality studies and in psychological anthropology more generally. She was Samuel Zemurray Jr. and Doris Zemurray Stone-Radcliffe Professor at Radcliffe College from 1954. After retirement from Radcliffe, she was Professor-at-large at Cornell University (1971–1976) and for one term at the University of California, San Diego (1976).