The Journal of California Anthropology

The data indicate the Cottonwood Spring cache was stored away ca. A.D. 1895 to 1910 by a Cahuilla family group, group of women, or women and children (Bean 1974:157) who were engaged in the collecting and storing of nearby plant foods. An important aspect of this cache is the documentation it provides of the survival of certain ceremonial, technological, and subsistence activities well into the period of heavy contact with whites. Such documentation is vital to studies of culture processes and the assessment of European impact upon aboriginal cultures.