Primary Sources:

“Sah-ta-ko” - live oak people

Sah-ta - live oak; ko - people

Clinton Hart Merriam collected Coast Miwok place names in the early 1900s, discovering that Sah-ta-ko was attributed to the San Geronimo Valley. Later, language research by anthropologist Isabell Kelly revealed that sah-ta translated to “live oak,” while ko translated to “people.” Merriam’s findings were excerpted in the Mill Valley Record newspaper in February of 1920 (at right.)

Journal and newspaper articles:

• “Archaeological Exploration of Sixteenth-Century Indian Mounds at Drake's Bay” by Clement W. Meighan, Robert F. Heizer and Kamer Aga-Oglu - 1952

• “Bodega Miwok as Seen by Tikhanov in 1818” by Glenn J. Farris - 1995

• “Ethnographic Observations on the Coast Miwok and Pomo” by Contre-Admiral F. P. Von Wrangell and P. Kostromitonov - 1839

• “Ethnohistory and Ethnogeography of the Coast Miwok and Their Neighbors, 1783-1840” by Randall Milliken - 2009

• “Geography and Dialects of the Miwok Indians” by Samuel A. Barrett - 1907

• “Indigenous Persistence and Foodways at the Toms Point Trading Post (CA-MRN-202), Tomales Bay, California” by Tsim D. Schneider et. al. - 2018

• “Landscapes of Refuge and Resiliency/Native Californian Persistence at Tomales Bay, California, 1770s–1870s” by Tsim D. Schneider, and Lee M. Panich - 2019

• “Making and Unmaking Native Communities in Mission and Post–Mission Era Marin County, California” by Tsim D. Schneider - 2018

• “Managing Place and Identity/The Marin Coast Miwok Experience” by Jennifer Sokolove, Sally K. Fairfax and Breena Holland - 2002

• “Indian Names in the Tamalpais Region” by C. Hart Merriam - 1916

• “Placing Refuge and the Archaeology of Indigenous Hinterlands in Colonial California” by Tsim D. Schneider - 2015

• “Shellmounds of the San Francisco Bay Region” by N.C. Nelson - 1909

• “The Missionization of the Coast Miwok Indians of California” by Charles C. Colley - 1970

• “Finding Mid 19th Century Native Settlements Cartographic and Archaeological Evidence from Central California” by Tsim D. Schneider et. al. - 2018

• “Heritage In-Between: Seeing Native Histories in Colonial California” by Tsim D. Schneider - 2019

Books:

Interviews with Tom Smith and Maria Copa by MAPOM - 1991

Anthropologist Isabel Kelly spent time in Tomales Bay and Bodega Bay in the 1930s interviewing two important Coast Miwok culture bearers. Her collected findings were compiled with earlier research by the Miwok Archeological Preserve of Marin to create this highly specific and detailed resource, which covers many aspects of culture, language, and worldview. It is invaluable for developing a deeper understanding of the complexities of the Coast Miwok.

Dawn of the World: Myths and Tales told by the Miwok Indians of California by C. Hart Merriam - 1910

The stories collected in The Dawn of the World were related by the Miwok elders "after the first rains of the winter season, usually in the ceremonial roundhouse and always at night by the dim light of a flickering fire. They constitute the religious history of the tribe, and from time immemorial have been handed down by wordøof mouth," writes C. Hart Merriam. Included are creation myths and accounts of the First People, beings who antedated humans, as well as tales about animals, death and ghosts, witches and giants, and natural phenomena.

Chief Marin: Leader, Rebel, and Legend