Mattole

The Mattole, including the Bear River Indians, are a group of Native Americans in California. Their traditional lands are along the Mattole and Bear Rivers near Cape Mendocino in Humboldt County, California. A notable difference between the Mattole and other indigenous peoples of California is that the men traditionally had facial tattoos (on the forehead), while other local groups traditionally restricted facial tattooing to women.

The Bear River Indians called themselves and the Mattole Ni'ekeni'. The Wailaki name was Tul'bush ("foreigners"); the Cahto name was Diideeʾ-kiiyaahaangn ("The North Tribe").

The Mattole spoke the Mattole language, an Athabaskan language that may have been closely related to that of their Eel River neighbors to the east. According to linguist Victor Golla, the last surviving person who could speak the Mattole language died in the 1950s.

Historically, the Mattole lived along the Mattole River in the valley of Humboldt County, northwestern California. The Mattole lived in the area for a few centuries, but carbon dating revealed that many native tribes have inhabited the land for over 6000 years. Earliest accounts say that the Mattole have been in the region of the Bear River tribe since the 16th century. From the mid-16th to the 19th centuries, the Mattole resided at the coast near the mouth of the river.

The Mattole were only permanent residents of a particular area through the winter months. For the most part, however, the Mattole people traveled in single family bands, traveling as necessary according to food abundance and better climate conditions.

Aboriginal Bear River villages included Tcalko', Chilsheck, Chilenche, Selsche'ech, Tlanko, Estakana, and Sehtla.

The Mattole's main food source has always been salmon. Salmon was a main food source because the Mattole were located along the Mattole river, which was abundant with Salmon. This also meant that the Mattole did not travel far from the river because that would mean abandoning their food source.

From the beginning of the tribe's 16th-century arrival in what is now Humboldt County, Mattole villages were essentially collective groups of families settling in close proximity over winter months. For the most part however, the Mattole people would travel in single family bands where necessary according to food abundance and better climate conditions, an easy feat with California's many microclimates. As warmer seasons set in the Mattole Valley, the Mattole would separate into their primary familial groups, becoming gatherers of vegetation more so than hunters as they would in colder months. As James Roscoe observed, "the simple family was by far the single most important social unit in Mattole society."