Genga, California
Genga, alternative spelling Gengaa, was a Tongva and Acjachemen village located on Newport Mesa overlooking the Santa Ana River between West Newport Beach and Costa Mesa, California at an open space site now referred to as Banning Ranch.[1][2][3] The village was believed to be about 9,500 years old.[4] Genga was part of a series of villages along the Santa Ana River, including Lupukngna, Pajbenga, Totpavit, and Hutuknga.[5][6] Villagers were recorded as Gebit in Spanish Mission records.[7]
There was a failed attempt to preserve a village burial site of Genga in the 2010s, where commercial development of the site was valued over preservation.[4] The contemporary site of Genga may be transformed into a public open space as of 2022.[1]
Village life
Genga was in close proximity and had influence over Newport Bay, as reflected in the bay's original name given by the Spanish Bolsa de Gengar. The village's influence may have extended up to the northern San Jaoquin Hills.[5] One estimate placed the village population at around 100-150 at the time of contact. The village was multiethnic and multilingual, being shared by the Tongva and Acjachemen.[5]
As a coastal village, the usage of te'aats may have been important to the village's people.[8][9] It is also likely that, similar to the nearby village of Lupukngna, that villagers primarily subsisted on acorns, seeds, berries, small game, fish and shellfish. Shell mounds were also likely a part of village life.[10][11]
Colonization
After the arrival of the Spanish colonizers, villagers were baptized at San Gabriel and San Juan Capistrano missions and had marriage ties with villagers from Hutuknga, Puvunga, and settlements around San Juan Capistrano.[5]
Human remains from the village were uncovered in the 2010s. Although Tongva and Acjachemen people campaigned to stop the development over a site where six hundred ancestor's remains were found, it was failed to be preserved.[12] The original burial site now sits underneath a parking lot next to a bank. The remains were moved to a dirt lot about a half-mile down the road.[4]
Banning Ranch, the contemporary site of Genga, which had been a large coastal oil field, may be transformed into a public open space as of 2022 after many years of organizing to preserve the site.[1] Leaders of the project have stated that "tribal descendants of the area’s earliest residents will also have a voice."[13]
See also
Native American villages in Orange County, California:
References
- ^ a b c Hicks, Angelina (2022-06-14). "Banning Ranch is One Step Closer to Becoming Preserved Open Space". Voice of OC. Retrieved 2022-12-06.
- ^ "Randall Preserve - Our Work in CA". Trust for Public Land. Retrieved 2022-12-14.
- ^ Greene, Sean; Curwen, Thomas. "Mapping the Tongva villages of L.A.'s past". www.latimes.com. Retrieved 2022-12-07.
- ^ a b c Loewe, Ronald (2016). Of sacred lands and strip malls : the battle for Puvungna. Lanham, MD. p. 138. ISBN 978-0-7591-2162-1. OCLC 950751182.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ a b c d Koerper, Henry; Mason, Roger; Peterson, Mark (2002). Catalysts to complexity : late Holocene societies of the California coast. Jon Erlandson, Terry L. Jones, Jeanne E. Arnold, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA. Los Angeles: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA. p. 64. ISBN 978-1-938770-67-8. OCLC 745176510.
- ^ Mitchell, Patrick (2006). Santa Ana River Guide. Larry B. Van Dyke, Eva Dienel (1st ed.). Birmingham, Alabama. p. 219. ISBN 978-0-89997-616-7. OCLC 909903029.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Martínez, Roberta H. (2009). Latinos in Pasadena. Charleston, SC: Arcadia. p. 10. ISBN 978-0-7385-6955-0. OCLC 402526696.
- ^ L. Frank (2007). First families : a photographic history of California Indians. Kim Hogeland. Berkeley, Calif.: Heyday Books. p. 108. ISBN 978-1-59714-013-3. OCLC 76901815.
- ^ Allan Sekula; Jack (John Kuo Wei) Tchen (2004). "Interview with Allan Sekula: Los Angeles, California, October 26, 2002". International Labor and Working-Class History (66): 162. ISSN 0147-5479. JSTOR 27672963.
- ^ Early Costa Mesa. Costa Mesa Historical Society. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Pub. 2009. p. 7. ISBN 978-0-7385-6976-5. OCLC 276818569.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link) - ^ California Coastal Commission (1987). California coastal resource guide. Madge Caughman, Joanne S. Ginsberg (1st ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 320. ISBN 0-520-06186-1. OCLC 16005763.
- ^ Welsh, Terry (2015-12-16). "Welsh: Coastal Comission Banning Ranch Hearings in January Need to Hear from OC". Voice of OC. Retrieved 2022-12-06.
- ^ "Purchase of Banning Ranch for preserved natural space is fully funded". Orange County Register. 2022-05-26. Retrieved 2022-12-11.