It seeps from our coastal cliffs, it bubbles up from our channel waters, and an entire civilization was built around it. It’s asphaltum, the liquefied, black, petroleum-based substance otherwise known as tar that oozes out from ocean originates in places like the Carpinteria Tar Pits and makes for many a frustrating footfall if you’re not careful.
Asphaltum is also the subject of a new exhibit at the S.B. Maritime Museum (SBMM), and the public is invited to a free opening reception on Thursday, April 6, 5:30-7 p.m. The following week, the museum will host Asphaltum: Chumash Super Glue, a lecture presented by Chumash Elder Julie Tumamait-Stenslie and archaeologist John Foster, April 13, at 7 p.m. “Asphaltum is a substance used in almost everything the Chumash did — in decorations, in ritual objects, in clothing, to make water bottles with, and they used it for tools and things. It played a part in their everyday life,” Foster said.
Foster, vice president of Greenwood and Associates, has conducted hundreds of excavations throughout the western United States on both prehistoric and historical sites, and he continues to work for their conservation. He will lend a historical overview of the Chumash and their use of local oil seepages, along with Tumamait-Stenslie, who will share stories from the ancient Chumash tradition and how asphaltum plays into their cultural history. Tumamait-Stenslie can trace family roots to at least 11 known Chumash villages going as far north as San Luis Obispo and as far south as Malibu, as well as almost everywhere in between. She continues to serve the community as chairperson for the Barbareño/Ventureño Band of Mission Indians and as spiritual adviser for CSU Channel Islands.