Page 11 - lopezrobert1974

THE AREA

The focus of this research was centered in the lower

~ortion of an area of Southern California known as the

~Piru Creek Drainage BasinQ" This basin encompasses por-
;tions of Los Angeles, Kern and Ventura Counties with the

largest portion confined in the northeastern corner of
,Ventura County (Map 1)~ The basin is of particular in-

1
1 tE:rest because it constitutes an isolated environmenta.l
i
!zone, somewhat transitional between the dry desert regions
j
;to the east and the moist C0·3.S ta1 strip to the v;est, which

:appears to have supported an aboriginal population which

!was different during the precontact period from the
i .
iChumash so commonly associated with the rest of Ventura

:Countv.,
! -
The headwaters of the Piru Creek rise in a broad ex-

;panse of terrain located above the town of Gorman between

ithe southernmost section of the Topatopa Mountains and

,Mount Pinoso This area, comprising most of the upper

basin, is act~ally thought to

have been occupied by a different aboriginal population

than that which occupied the lower portion of the drain-

'age basin. However, the upper portion is included here

n1ere 1y to fi 11 m.i.t the topographica.l ~m.d envlronrr.enta1

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