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shell; little or no basketry, wood, or cordage have been discovered at these sites (Grant 1964:21). Thus,
cache caves provide a unique opportunity to study this major component of indigenous material culture
(Whitby 2012:34). Whitby’s (2012) research identified at least 83 cache caves in the Chumash and
adjoining areas. The arid conditions in this area mean that in these dry caves there has been exceptional
preservation of organic materials. Items found in cache caves include large quantities of basketry, feather
bands, wooden bullroarers, deer tibia whistles, bundles of plant materials, arrows, and arrow straighteners
(Robinson et al. 2012:283). Caching practices in Southern California no doubt developed over centuries,
with the earliest evidence of caching in Chumash territory associated with the Middle Period (see Whitby
2012:440), continuing well into the American era, more than 100 years after the first missions were built
(Harrington 1986: R95, Fr. 398; Whitby 2012:439). Bean (1972:54) provides a detailed description of
caching among the Cahuilla:
In addition to the storage of food in the granaries located about the village,
families or individuals characteristically kept caches of food secretly
hidden from everyone—sometimes in distant and remote places,
sometimes buried in ollas under the ground, or placed in small caves. The
openings to these small caves were carefully covered with brush to keep
their presence unknown to others.
Whitby suggests the continuance of caching in caves may have been related to indigenous cultures
trying to maintain their traditional material culture, with little noticeable change to indigenous material
culture items caches during the Colonial Period (Whitby 2012:435-436). Thus, these cached material
assemblages distributed across the Santa Barbara backcountry, inland from the missions and other colonial
influences, provide new insight into indigenous practices and value systems during the tumultuous early
historic period (Whitby 2012:37).

CHUMASH CACHES
The need to store foods for future use was critical to the Native Californian way of life. Granaries
outside the home protected stores of acorns, grass seeds, bulbs, dried greens, nuts, and berries from the
elements, and from pilfering birds and small mammals (Bibby 2012:46). Some storage baskets held great
quantities of acorns and were so huge that they were mounted on platforms (Shanks 2010:8).
Most dwellings probably contained several storage baskets (Bibby 2012:46). Inside the dwelling,
large storage baskets served as pantries and wardrobes and held short-term food supplies and other
household items (Bibby 2012:46). Storage baskets were often used for storing acorns, chia seeds, and other
foods indoors (Shanks 2010:24). In addition to food storage, this type of basket was used for storing items
of material culture (Hudson and Blackburn 1983:61). These interior granaries held to a basic design
concept: a semi-globular form with an enclosing mouth. Storage basket lids appear to have consisted of
either a flat tray or a small basket (Bibby 2012:46; Hudson and Blackburn 1983:61; Shanks 2010:24).
According to Shanks (2010:33), archaeological baskets recovered from caves in the Santa Barbara
backcountry may inform Chumash basketry, of which we have a limited knowledge. Shanks (2010:33)
believes that if these cave finds are representative, the Chumash of this area primarily used grass bundle
coiling foundations, while juncus was used as a weft material, along with sedge root and sumac. The earliest
documented cache from the region of the Bryne Cache came from a collection of nine baskets that were
acquired by the University of California in 1907 (Grant 1964:5). These baskets were discovered by J.E.
Heath while he was working for C.E. James (Grant 1964:5). Kroeber (1925:562-563, plates 52, 53, and 54)
illustrates a number of these baskets, including basketry water bottles, a burden basket, and a storage basket
(Elsasser and Heizer 1963:11; Grant 1964:5; Mohr and Sample 1955).
Campbell Grant (1964:7-11) described nine baskets that were recovered in the 1920s from caves
by Mr. J.G. James and Mr. Henry Abels. Two of the baskets are large storage baskets, one decorated, one
is a dish-shaped decorated basket, two are asphaltum-lined water bottles, one is a large olla-shaped basket,
one is a sieve, and two are gaming trays (Grant 1964:7). This collection of baskets, now known as the

SCA Proceedings, Volume 30 (2016) Bryne, Gandy, Robinson, and Johnson p. 214