Kuya’mu:  The Cultural Heritage of Naples

In 1991, when I decided to try to start a campaign to conserve the landscape of the coastal terrace from Goleta to El Capitan, I did not imagine that the effort to permanently conserve the land on the eastern Gaviota Coast would continue for more than 30 years.

One of the most important issues regarding the recent proposal to develop Lot 66 at Naples is the Chumash heritage of the site. The Native American presence in our region dates back thousands of years, prior to Columbus bumping into the western hemisphere, prior to the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, prior to the reign of the pharaohs in Egypt, and prior to what we know as western civilization.

There were numerous Chumash communities on the south coast, with many generations of families living in homes and engaging in social and spiritual activities, just like the communities that exist here today. Two of the largest of the Chumash communities were Kuya’mu and Mikiw, which were located on the coastal terrace on either side of what is now called Dos Pueblos Creek.

In all of the years during which there have been efforts to develop the land at Naples on the east side of Dos Pueblos Creek, the historic presence of Kuya’mu on that site has mostly been ignored. Although the remnants of Kuya’mu are undoubtedly buried under the current surface of the ground, Kuya’mu is nevertheless a cultural landscape that should be protected by the government policies that protect such cultural heritage sites. 

Before the application to develop Lot 66 is processed any further, the boundaries of Kuya’mu should be delineated, perhaps by using current technology that can locate the remnants of buried communities without disturbing them. All of the land within those boundaries should then be protected from development.

Moreover, the cultural landscape and the heritage of Kuya’mu deserve recognition, respect, and conservation.