The Indians who inhabited the area surrounding Bahía de Los Angeles
spoke the Borjeño language of the Peninsular Yuman group, of the Yuman
Family of languages (map 2). They were linguistically and historically
related to other Yuman-speaking groups of the peninsula and areas to the
north (Massey, 1949, p. 292). At the time of European contact these
people--like all other aboriginal groups on the peninsula--were hunters,
fishers, and gatherers. The nearest agricultural tribes were on the
lower Colorado River.
Culturally, the Borjeño were like other Peninsular Yumans of relatively
late prehistoric and historic periods in central Baja California.
However, they lived in more widely scattered groups because of the
greater scarcity of water in this part of the peninsula. Immediately to
the north of them at Bahía de San Luis Gonzaga--at approximately the
30th parallel--a decided break with the Peninsular Yuman tradition
occurred.
In 1746, during a voyage up the gulf coast from Loreto to the mouth of
the Colorado River, Father Fernando Consag noted that (1) the Spanish
and their "Cochimí" interpreters could not converse with the natives;
(2) the natives had dogs; and (3) the Indians had pottery vessels
(Venegas, 1944, III:107-109).
The Hungarian Jesuit was the first to note the southeastern linguistic
boundary of the California Yuman groups, a boundary which lay
immediately north of Bahía de Los Angeles. At the same time he placed
the southernmost extent of dogs and the making or use of pottery on the
peninsula in the 18th century.
In describing the collection from Bahía de Los Angeles, we have the
benefit of ethnographic descriptions from three periods of the Spanish
occupation of Baja California prior to 1769 and the expulsion of the
Jesuit missionaries. Some historical data derive from the initial
voyages of the Spanish along the gulf coast in the 16th century. Later
there were occasional contacts with these natives by Jesuit explorers
during the first half of the 18th century. Finally, there was the period
of active missionization, beginning with the foundation of Santa
Gertrudis (1751) and continuing with San Borja (1762) and Santa María
(1766).
[Illustration: Map 2. Linguistic Groups of Baja California.]
Toward the end of the 18th century there are applicable descriptions
of Indians immediately to the north by the Dominican priest, Father Luis
Sales (1794).
The ethnographic information contained in the documents bears out the
fact that the cave artifacts belong in the cultural tradition of the
Borjeño who inhabited the region at the time of European contact and
conquest.