California History Guide > Stories on Rock

The Chumash and their Rock Art

The Chumash, the Native American people living along the coast of Southern California, left records of their dreams and beliefs through paintings in caves and on rock faces. These paintings on rock are thought to be depictions of the spirit world, a world they believed to be just as real as the world we live in, the world where we can see, touch, smell, and taste things. Some of the paintings show actual events that happened, but most of them represent ideas.

These rock paintings, or pictographs, are often found in out of the way places near water, such as a river or stream. The paint they used are made from natural materials, such as:

• Ochre, an iron ore, for red;
• Charcoal and soot from fires for black;
• Calcium carbonate, from crushed shells, for white.