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The Kawaiisu Culture
Natural History
Geology
“In a time before time, there was no earth. There was only water.
Coyote
told the animals and birds living in
the sky to dive down and bring up dirt so there would be land. They all tried, but failed. Coyote himself
almost died trying. So he asked Earth Diver
(Coot)
to dive down and bring up some dirt. Coot stayed
down all day and finally brought up some dirt. Then there was land and all the
animals
and
birds
came
down out of the sky.”
The land that Coot brought up in that long ago time of animal people was that of rivers, rolling savannahs
and a vast inland lake environment. Even the animal people were of different forms than the present. On the
eastern side of the Kawaiisu homeland, from Sand Canyon to
Red Rock Canyon,
fossil remains of saber-toothed
cats, camels, horses, rhinoceros and elephant-like creatures have been found.
Since that time, dynamic geological forces have dramatically altered the geomorphology. Sometime during
the Middle Miocene to Pliocene (2 to 10 million years ago) major folding and
faulting
lifted these
lands to their present elevations. To the south is Tehachapi Peak (Double Mt., elev. 7988), while to
the west is Cummings Mountain (elev. 7753) and Bear Mountain (elev. 6895). Piute Mountain (elev. 8432) lies
to the northwest. The land below these peaks is made up of high ridges, deep canyons and wide valleys.
Generally the mountainous land form runs north/south. The Tehachapi Mountains, which are the southern extension
of the southern Sierras, have been rotated in a westerly direction, forming a transverse range that runs
east/west. This was caused by movement along the Garlock fault which lies just south of
Tomo-Kahni,
along Oak
and Cameron Creeks. The Garlock fault, California's other major fault, runs generally southwest from
the Death Valley area and is offset by the San Andreas Fault west of I-5 at Frazier Park. This fault continues
to the Coastal Range as the Big Pine Fault.
From the vantage point of the high eastern ridges, Tomo-Kahni appears as a bowl within a larger fifty square
mile bowl that is Sand Canyon. The rock types are comprised primarily of
igneous
and
sedimentary
rock.
Metamorphic
rock can also be found in the Tehachapis in the form of marble. From Tomo-Kahni,
sedimentary limestone deposits can be seen north of the Calaveras cement plant. Within Tomo-Kahni, the
igneous rock is the dark, black volcanic basalt rock in which we find grinding slicks. Sedimentary rock is
seen in the lighter tuffaceous sandstone in which we find bedrock mortars (holes used for grinding and
pounding). Outside of Sand Canyon, mortars are seen in granite bedrock.
One of the most interesting geological features at Tomo-Kahni is the dark red to black soil. This soil is
derived from the breakdown of
volcanic
basaltic rock. In response to moisture and freezing, the clay
content swells and contracts, resulting in a phenomenon known as self-cultivation. In other words, the soil
turns itself over time and buried objects don't always stay buried.
The basic sedimentary sandstone materials formed in an inland lake
environment
during the Miocene epoch
five to 20 million years ago. What is primarily seen in Tomo-Kahni and greater Sand Canyon is tuffaceous
sandstone (tuff intermixed with sand). This tuff came from local volcanic eruptions. Throughout the province
there are exposed layers of brightly colored compacted volcanic ash
(tuff) and grayish compacted volcanic
mud. Both are typical of volcanic eruptions in a continental setting.
The main drainage of Sand Canyon is Cache Creek. At one time, this was a major river course with gravel
deposits estimated to be several thousand feet thick. Forty
vertebrate
fossil
sites have been recorded
along this creek and in several branching canyons. As recently as one million years ago, Cache Creek
flowed westward into the San Joaquin Valley. Faulting uplifted the land and changed the creek's flow so
that it now runs eastward into the Mojave Desert.
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