Alaxuluxen, the Chumash name for the Chumash Painted Cave State Historic Park is situated on the edge of the traditional Barbareño Chumash territory, which ranged from the Pacific coast to the foothills and southern slopes of the Santa Ynez Mountains.
Although the precise dates of the interior paintings aren’t known, ceremonial use of the cave was discontinued in the 1700s with Spanish contact. However, the connection to the cave has not been lost to the Chumash today. The name of the cave, Alaxuluxen, comes from current Chumash elder Ernestine Ygnacio-De Soto’s great-great grandmother, Maria Ygnacio, who was the daughter of the last wot or chief of Syukhtun. Since the founding of the park in 1976, the cave remains available to this continued legacy of the Chumash people.
Comments