The Ohlone people of the California Central Coast and the San Francisco Bay Area spoke eight different languages at the time of Spanish contact: Karkin, Chochenyo, Tamien, Mutsun, Chalon, Rumsien, Awaswas, and Ramaytush. Ramaytush (pronounced rah-MY-toosh) was the language of those who lived on the San Francisco Peninsula. Smaller groups of these people made up of families related by marriage may have spoken different dialects of Ramaytush but would have been able to understand their neighbors. Groups who spoke Ramaytush included: the Ssalson of the San Andreas Valley the Lamchin of San Carlos

Ohlone life meant working together and helping one other. And just like today, Ohlone people had time for singing and dancing, laughing and playing. They had favorite games like stick dice, the hand game, hoop-and-pole, and juggling. Children played cat’s cradle using their fingers and toes to make string shapes with names like stars, making daylight come, house, and deer. They also competed in marathon-like races and in team sports. Shinny is an Ohlone game similar to field hockey. Just as we go to football and baseball games today, people sometimes traveled from distant villages to watch

The San Andreas Valley area was once a rich and beautiful landscape of rolling hills and gentle valleys that supported a hugely diverse array of plant and animal species. Its waterways teemed with salmon, steelhead and trout. Before the Crystal Springs Reservoir was created, a creek flowed through the valley into a natural lake just northwest of the Pulgas Water Temple. Native peoples lived successfully and creatively upon this land for over 10,000 years before the San Francisco Bay Area became a bustling center of urban activity. Ohlone people typically built their community villages near a