Indigenous Tribes to the Elk Grove Region

Indigenous Tribes to the Elk Grove Region were native peoples in Elk Grove, California, a city in Sacramento County, California, located just south of the state capital of Sacramento. Today, Elk Grove is known for its large population as well as its fast-paced residential expansion and economical development, but before Sacramento's discovery by Gabriel Moraga and Elk Grove's settlement by John Sutter there were four groups of indigenous people who coexisted in this region. Elk Grove has one of California's largest Native American populations: an estimated 4 percent are descendants of local and other American Indian tribes.
Indigenous tribes
* Valley and Sierra Miwok
* Nisenan or Southern Maidu
* River Patwin
Cultural aspects
Subsistence
Although diverse, many of these groups' lives shared similar aspects. They collected acorns before winter, as they provided dietary starch and fat for the cold times ahead. Basket-weaving skills shared between the groups were used to construct above-ground acorn granaries, and local oak groves were tended so as to maximize production.
Elk Grove and its outlining areas were rich in plant and animal life, and it was common for indigenous people to supplement their acorn diet with edible roots and fish from nearby rivers, such as the American River, Sacramento River and the Cosumnes River.
Religion
Kuksu, also called the Kuksu Cult, was a shamanistic religion practised to different degrees by the Miwok, Nisenan, Nomlaki and Patwin peoples before contact with the arriving European settlers. The religious belief system extended into Central California and Northern California from Sacramento Valley west to the Pacific Ocean.
Kuksu included elaborate acting and dancing ceremonies in traditional costume. The men of the tribe practised rituals to ensure good health, bountiful harvests, hunts and good weather. Ceremonies included an annual mourning ceremony, rites of passage, and shamanic intervention with the spirit world. A male secret society met in underground dance rooms and danced in disguise at the public dances.
Languages
The languages of the tribes were diverse, but they were poorly documented and there is little knowledge of some languages. Today, there are few or no survivors who speak their native tongue.
*The Nisenan (Southern Maidu) spoke Chico, now extinct, and Nisenan, of which only speaker is thought to remain. Nisenan is one of the Maiduan languages.
*The Valley Miwok spoke Planes Miwok, a language of the Miwokan branch of the Utian family of languages. All of the Utian languages are severely endangered.
*The Patwin spoke a self-titled language known as Patwin (also known as Hill Patwin), one of the Wintuan languages. One speaker of Patwin remained in 1997.
Although tribes each had a different language, it is believed they shared a common ancestral root. The Penutian stock is believed to be the originating language from which all other dialects evolved and later branched into five other languages. Maidu, Miwok and Wintuan are included in these five branches.

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