Prehistory

For thousands of years, the Pomo Indians lived throughout North-Central California, from Mendocino County to the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay. Before European settlement, about 3,000 Pomo Indians spoke one of three distinct languages.

Many Southeastern Pomo, the ancestors of the Koi Nation, lived on the island village of Koi in Clear Lake, subsisting on fish, game, and a variety of native vegetation. The Pomo produced many goods, including beautiful and useful tools like arrowheads, knives, ax-heads, scraping tools and ornaments. They also expertly crafted beads of magnesite and clamshells, which served as a form of currency. However, they were best known for their baskets, which were intricately designed, functional and watertight.

For many centuries before the arrival of European and American settlers, the Pomo traded these and other commodities, including obsidian goods, with tribes throughout a large portion of Northern California. Extensive archeological evidence indicates a significant Pomo presence from modern day Mendocino County all the way south to the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay.