Muwekma Ohlone Tribe

News Articles

This Native American Tribe Wants Federal Recognition. A New DNA Analysis Could Bolster Its Case

For decades, a misperception that the San Francisco Bay Area’s Muwekma Ohlone Tribe was “extinct” barred its living members from receiving federal recognition.

Soon, however, that might change. As Celina Tebor reports for USA Today, a new DNA analysis shows a genetic through line between 2,000-year-old skeletons found in California and modern-day Muwekma Ohlone people.

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New DNA Analysis Supports an Unrecognized Tribe’s Ancient Roots in California

A collaboration between researchers and the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe offers new evidence that their ancestors have lived in the Bay Area for thousands of years.

In “The Handbook of the Indians of California,” published in 1925, the anthropologist Alfred Kroeber pronounced the Ohlone people “extinct so far as all practical purposes are concerned,” noting that only “a few scattered individuals survive.”

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Ancient DNA could help California tribe get federal recognition

When Spanish priests arrived in what is now California almost 250 years ago, they established a string of missions stretching from San Diego to the hills north of San Francisco—all built by forced Indigenous labor. Tens of thousands of Native Americans died from disease, malnourishment, and maltreatment during the mission period, which lasted until the 1830s.

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The Muwekma Ohlone have been here for more than 2,000 years. The government says they're not a tribe.

They have lived in the Bay Area for thousands of years, were enslaved by the Spanish conquerors and bounty hunted by Americans. The Native American tribe the Muwekma Ohlone were forced to hide on Spanish rancherias, landless, their numbers dwindling to the point that scholars in the 1920s claimed they were extinct.

Yet, they've held on. Their tribal membership hovered around 600 in 2003 — the most recent count — with many more born since then, Tribal Vice Chair Monica Arellano said.

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Ancient and modern genomics of the Ohlone Indigenous population of California

California supports a high cultural and linguistic diversity of Indigenous peoples. In a partnership of researchers with the Muwekma Ohlone tribe, we studied genomes of eight present-day tribal members and 12 ancient individuals from two archaeological sites in the San Francisco Bay Area, spanning ∼2,000 y. We find that compared to genomes of Indigenous individuals from throughout the Americas, the 12 ancient individuals are most genetically similar to ancient individuals from Southern California, and that despite spanning a large time period, they share distinctive ancestry. This ancestry is also shared with present-day tribal members, providing evidence of genetic continuity between past and present Indigenous individuals in the region, in contrast to some popular reconstructions based on archaeological and linguistic information.

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Stanford and Illinois researchers publish genomic evidence of ancient Muwekma Ohlone connection

A research collaboration with the Muwekma Ohlone tribe – whose ancestral lands include the Stanford campus – shows a genetic relationship between modern-day Tribe members and individuals buried nearby who lived more than 1,900 years ago.

A new genetic comparison study between ancient people buried east of San Francisco Bay and modern members of California’s Muwekma Ohlone people supports the Tribe’s assertion – backed by family histories, government records and records from the Bay Area Spanish missions – that they and their ancestors have lived in this area longer than many archaeologists have estimated.

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Study ties present-day Native American tribe to ancestors in San Francisco Bay Area

A genomic study of Native peoples in the San Francisco Bay Area finds that eight present-day members of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe share ancestry with 12 individuals who lived in the region several hundred to 2,000 years ago.

Reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study challenges the notion that the Ohlone migrated to the area between A.D. 500-1,000, said Ripan Malhi, a professor of anthropology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, who led the research with Stanford University population genetics and society professor Noah Rosenberg in collaboration with a team of other scientists and members of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe. The Muwekma Ohlone Tribal Council requested, contributed to and oversaw the study.

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Genomic sequencing confirms Indigenous tribe has deep roots in the San Francisco region

Researchers found that modern-day members of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe located in and around the San Francisco Bay Area can trace their roots in the region back more than 2,000 years.

By comparing genomic data from eight present-day tribe members with DNA extracted from 12 individuals who lived nearby between several hundred and 2,000 years ago, researchers confirmed the tribe has ancient ties to the region. Much of the past work on the topic has focused on broad-scale migration patterns across North America, and until now little attention was paid to local population dynamics.

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Mission Santa Clara in a Changing Urban Environment

By: Lee Panich, Santa Clara University
Boletin California Mission Studies Association Journal of the California Mission Studies Association
2015

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Study How Environment May Have Affected Ancient Societies

By: Cara Monroe, Washington State University Anthropologist and Co-Author
Washington State University - News
June 1, 2015

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https://news.wsu.edu/2015/06/01/study-how-environment-may-have-affected-ancient-societies/#.VYmnvUaunC9
Detection of Cytosine Methylation in Ancient DNA from Five Native American Populations Using Bisulfite Sequencing

By
Rick W. A. Smith, Doctoral Student in Anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin, Co-Author
Affiliation: Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, United States of America

Cara Monroe, Faculty, Washington State University Anthropologist and Co-Author
Affiliations: Department of Anthropology, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, United States of America, Department of Anthropology, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, United States of America

Deborah A. Bolnick, PhD, Co-Author
Affiliations: Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, United States of America, Population Research Center, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, United States of America
May 27, 2015

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http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0125344&_ga=1.152411706.263636365.1435126083
A Spiral Through Time - Silicon Valley Arts and Culture from Ancestral Ohlone to Today

By Jan Rindfleisch
Silicon Valley Art - A Living History, Past and Present
2015

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http://www.janrindfleisch.com/History.html#SpiralThroughTime
On Friday, April 17, 2015, the 'Restore Coyote Creek' held a major symposium on the San Jose State University's Campus. On the published program they wanted to honor the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe by naming Coyote Creek in the Muwekma Ohlone Chochenyo Language - Mayyan Rummey

THE COYOTE CREEK HOWL
"Mayyan Rummey" The Muwekma Ohlone Name for Coyote Creek
Our Creek. Our City. Our Future.
April / May 2015

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Students and Faculty Take a Tour of Coyote Creek Watershed

By Sonya Herrera
San Jose State University Spartan Daily and Committee for Green Foothills
April 2, 2015

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http://spartandaily.com/137817/students-faculty-take-tour-coyote-creek-watershed
CA Tribe Has New Recognition Hopes After Costly, Two-Decade Struggle

By P. Denetclaw & B. Bennett
Published on Indian Country Today Media Network.com
July 21, 2014

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(http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com)

Home > CA Tribe Has New Recognition Hopes After Costly, Two-Decade Struggle

*Note - An incorrect group photo was used for this article, the photo does not include or represent Members of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area.
Local Native American tribe seeks identity Muwekma Ohlone lose federal court battle over official recognition of tribe

By Sue Dremann
Palo Alto Weekely
December 5, 2011

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http://www.pleasantonweekly.com/news/2011/12/05/local-native-american-tribe-seeks-identity

Ancestral Sites

High Tech Propaganda War Sand Hill Foes

By Bill Workman, SF Chronicle

January 27, 1997

Article (PDF 266 KB)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/1997/01/27/MN47323.DTL
Presidio Originals The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe Pushes for a Voice in Presidio Planning -- and, Perhaps, a Piece of a National Park

By Matt Smith, SF Weekly News
May 13, 1998

Article (PDF 239 KB)

http://www.sfweekly.com/1998-05-13/news/presidio-originals
Technology Intrudes On Sacred Ground

By Michael McCabe, SF Chronicle
March 27, 2000

Article (PDF 135 KB)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2000/03/27/MN107799.DTL
Taking the Waters at El Polin in the Presidio

By Geoffrey Coffey, SF Chronicle
June 16, 2004

Article (PDF 78.6 KB)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/06/16/HOGTI73FF11.DTL

Community

OMI Excelsior Living Library and Think Park

By Deborah Rich, SF Chronicle
May 8, 2002

Article (PDF 143 KB)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/05/08/HO101096.DTL
Walls Open Doors Murals Teach Teens Art Responsibility

By Mark Simon, SF Chronicle
November 26, 2002

Article (PDF 989 KB)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/11/26/BA203353.DTL
Urban Oasis Garden in Legal Limbo in S.F.

By Joe Garofoli, SF Chronicle
July 28, 2003

Article (PDF 883 KB)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/07/28/MN283123.DTL&ao=all
Land Art Living Truths

By Zahid Sardar, SF Chronicle
May 22, 2005

Article (PDF 2.27 MB)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/05/22/CMGNOCF3JQ1.DTL

Language

Conferences Focus On Saving Native Languages

By Kathleen Maclay, Media Relations, UC Berkeley News
June 4, 2004

Article (PDF 127 KB)

http://berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2004/06/04_chocenyo.shtml
Indian Tribe Works To Bring Back A Lost Language

By Lisa M. Krieger, San Jose Mercury News
December 28, 2004

Article (PDF 5.12 KB)

http://www.proyectos-saluda.org/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=441
Team Works To Preserve California's Native Languages

By Lisa Krieger, San Jose Mercury News
December 29, 2007

Article (PDF 42.8 KB)

Muwekma Ohlone Tribe

Jose Dies of Old Age

The San Francisco Call (Newpaper, Page 11) San Francisco, California Article on the Death of a Muwekma Ohlone Ancestor, Capitan Jose Antonio
January 14, 1897

Article (PDF 356KB)
The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay and Alcatraz and Angel Islands

Paper Presented By Rosemary Cambra, Muwekma Tribal Chairwoman and Invited Panelist at the 30th Anniversary of Alcatraz
October 1999

Article (PDF 185 KB)

http://www.coloredreflections.com/decades/Decade.cfm?Dec=2&Typ=3&Sty=1&PID=1027
The Little Tribe That Could

By Ron Russell, SF Weekly
March 28, 2007

Article (PDF 452 KB)

http://www.sfweekly.com/2007-03-28/news/the-little-tribe-that-could