The Tataviam which means "people facing the sun", also sometimes called the Alliklik which is also a derogatory term used by other tribes, are a Native American group in southern California. They traditionally occupied an area lying primarily in the upper basin of the Santa Clara River.
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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.
History
The Tataviam were first contacted during the 1769-1770 expeditions that established the Spanish presence in California. According to Chester King and Thomas C. Blackburn (1978:536), "By 1810, virtually all the Tataviam had been baptized at San Fernando Mission."
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
- www.tataviam-nsn.us
- Antelope Valley Indian Museum
- "The Tataviam: Early Newhall Residents" by Paul Higgins
- "Meet the Tataviam" by Christopher Nyerges
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