Oketo, California
 Opyuweg was on the other side of this tree-covered promontory. | |
| Alternative name | Oketo, Chwaltaike (Hupa) |
|---|---|
| Part of | Big Lagoon County Park |
| History | |
| Builder | The Ner-'er-'ner people. |
| Abandoned | before 1909 |
| Cultures | Yurok Ner-'er-'ner |
| Site notes | |
| Condition | no traces visible |
| Management | County of Humboldt |
| Public access | yes |
Oketo is a former Yurok settlement in Humboldt County, California, but experts differ on what the names were of the settlement itself and of the nearby waterway now called Big Lagoon. Yurok author Chenahwah Weitchahwah (Lucy Thompson) used the name Ah-ca-tah when mentioning the location of a religious practice but was unclear whether she was naming the village or lagoon. Peter Palmquist placed the village at the south shore of the lagoon.[1] A. L. Kroeber said the village was called Opyuweg (Chwaltaike by the Hupa), mapping it in more detail.[2] T. T. Waterman said the lagoon was named Oketo and pinpointed the village most precisely as Opyuweg, setting it west of a southern promontory of the lagoon and of a settlement called piNpa.[3] Coastal Yuroks call themselves Ner-'er-'ner or Ner-er-ner and upriver Yuroks call themselves Pue-lik-lo' or Polikla.[4] In his notes, C. H. Merriman recorded that Oketo was the name the Polikla or Pue-lik-lo' used for a Ner-er-ner village at Big Lagoon.[5]
Weitchahwah said a major religious performance called Wah-neck-wel-ah-gaw was performed there biannually and, when Europeans first arrived, it was also still held at Orick, Reck-woy, and Pec-wan, her birthplace.[1] Kroeber says Opyuweg was the largest settlement at Big Lagoon, and among the largest along the Ner-'er-'ner coast.
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