Kawaiisu

The Kawaiisu, who called themselves Nuwa, occupied the Piute, Scodie and Tehachapi mountains at the meeting of the southern Sierra Nevada and Mojave Desert. Their language belongs to the Southern Numic branch of the Uto-Aztecan family, while their traditions connect them with both California and Great Basin societies. On the edges of their homeland, they shared hunting and gathering grounds with the Kitanemuk and Tubatulabal.

Tomo-Kahni, meaning "Winter Home," was one of their mountain villages, set on a ridge above the Tehachapi Valley. Families wintered in particular villages and joined together on food-gathering trips, with kinship, trade and ceremonies linking households. In 1776 the Franciscan Francisco Garcés crossed the Tehachapis and recorded that Kawaiisu women and children gave his hungry party baskets, meat and seeds. The record shows local people supplying travellers from their own homeland.