Tataviam

The Tataviam (Tataviam: people facing the sun), were called the Alliklik by their neighbors the Chumash (Chumash: meaning grunter or stammerer, probably because they spoke a different language), are a Native American group in southern California. They traditionally occupied an area in northwest present-day Los Angeles County and southern Ventura County, lying primarily in the upper basin of the Santa Clara River, the Santa Susana Mountains, and the Sierra Pelona Mountains. They were distinct from the Kitanemuk and Fernandeño (Tongva).

Language

The meager evidence concerning the language spoken by the Tataviam has been extensively debated by scholars. The prevalent view is that it was an Uto-Aztecan language, probably belonging to the Takic branch of that family.

Population

Estimates for the pre-contact populations of most native groups in California have varied substantially. (See Population of Native California.) Alfred L. Kroeber (1925:883) estimated the combined 1770 population of the Serrano, Kitanemuk, and Tataviam as 3,500, and their population in 1910 as about 150. A close study of genealogical records indicates that people of Tataviam descent survived into the twentieth century, although most had lost their traditional language. Tribal members continued to intermarry with other indigenous groups and with other ethnicities.

History

The Santa Clarita Basin is believed to be the center of Tataviam territory, north of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. They were noted as a distinct linguistic and cultural group in 1776, by Father Francisco Garcés, and have been distinguished from the Kitanemuk and the Fernandeño.

The Spanish first encountered the Tataviam during their 1769-1770 expeditions. According to Chester King and Thomas C. Blackburn (1978:536), "By 1810, virtually all the Tataviam had been baptized at San Fernando Mission." Like other indigenous groups, they suffered high rates of fatalities from new infectious diseases brought by the Spanish, as they had no immunity (medical).

References

• Johnson, John R., and David D. Earle. 1990. "Tataviam Geography and Ethnohistory", Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 12:191-214.
• King, Chester, and Thomas C. Blackburn. 1978. "Tataviam," In California, edited by Robert F. Heizer, pp. 535–537. Handbook of North American Indians, William C. Sturtevant, general editor, vol. 8. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
• Kroeber, A. L. 1925. Handbook of the Indians of California. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin No. 78. Washington, D.C.

External links

• Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians, tribal government website
• "Tataviam", Antelope Valley Indian Museum, California Parks
• Paul Higgins, "The Tataviam: Early Newhall Residents", Old Town Newhall Gazette, January-February 1996
• Christopher Nyerges, "Meet the Tataviam"