Description
Chilula, locally known as the "Bald Hills Indians") were a Pacific Coast Athabaskan tribe speaking a dialect similar to the Hupa to the east and Whilkut to the south, who inhabited the area on or near Lower Redwood Creek, in Northern California, some 500 to 600 years before contact with Europeans. Upstream and northwest of the Whilkut along the Lower Redwood Creek lived the Chilula; they established their more than 20 villages only along the eastern shore, because there the mountains were broken by valleys irrigated by small streams, while the western shore was difficult to access. Because of their close Hupa kin they are also called Lower Redwood Creek Hupa or Downstream Redwood Creek Hupa. Chilula descendants have since been incorporated into the Hupa.
Language
The language spoken by the Chilula was very close to that of the Hupa, a larger group who lived just to the east of the Chilula.
Culture
There were more than 20 villages, with an average size of about 30 people. The men and older boys slept together in the village sweathouse. The Chilula left their villages in the summer and went to the grassy hills where they gathered plants for food. Individuals claimed ownership of certain seed-gathering or hunting spots, and camped near these spots during the summer. Many deer and elk were found in the Bald Hills and in the meadows among the redwood forests. The deer that were a source of food for the Chilula were also the main source of clothing. The women usually wore a skirt made from two pieces of deerskin, one covering the front and the other covering the back, and hanging from the waist to below the knees. Baskets were important to the Chilula, as they were to the other early Californians. The Chilula men made spears, bows and arrows, and traps from wood.