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 Workers making pipe turnouts on theMorongo Reservation | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| more than 1,000[1] (1995 or 1998, est.) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| United States (California) | |
| Languages | |
| English, formerlySerrano | |
| Religion | |
| traditional tribal religion | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Cahuilla,Tongva,Kitanemuk,Tataviam,Vanyume |
TheSerrano are anIndigenous people of California. Theirautonyms areTaaqtam meaning "people",Maarrênga'yam meaning "people fromMorongo", andYuhaaviatam meaning "people of the pines."[2][non-primary source needed]
Today the Maarrênga'yam are enrolled in theMorongo Band of Mission Indians, and the Yuhaviatam are enrolled in theYuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation. Some other Serrano people are enrolled in theSoboba Band of Luiseno Indians.[3]
The Serrano are typically divided into the Mountain Serrano and the Desert Serrano.[4] The Desert Serrano historically occupied the Western and Central Mojave Desert along the Mojave River. The Mojave River Region begins in the San Bernardino Mountains and provided ease of trading access between the Serrano and other Indigenous groups, including the Mojave.[4] The area of the Mojave Desert now and historically occupied by the Serrano used to have many oases, while it is now much drier and warmer.[5]
Serrano language is part of theTakic subset of the largeUto-Aztecan languages group ofIndigenous people of North America. The language family historically extended fromMexico along the West Coast and into theGreat Basin, with representation among tribes inMesoamerica.[6][7] They were a branch of theTakic languages speaking people who arrived in Southern California around 2,500 years ago.
Serrano means "highlander" or "mountaineer" inSpanish.[8] When theSpanish missionaries came into the region, in the late 18th century they helped create the tribal nameSerrano, distinguishing the people from neighboring tribes who were designated as theTongva (Gabrileño—Fernandeño) to the southwest, andKitanemuk andTataviam to the northwest.
Excavations of two precontact quarries in the central Mojave indicate the lifestyles of early Serrano and Serrano-Predecessors. The quarries, dating back to thePleistocene, indicate a much wetter landscape present in the desert than exists today. The high number of hunting tools suggest that local communities were nomadic hunters during the Pleistocene. Conversely,Holocene artifacts found at these quarries indicate a year-long occupation of single sites and a combination of both foraging and hunting for sustenance. Materials harvested at the sites suggest high use of stone tools such as grinding stones.[9] Lithic artifacts found in the Central Mojave suggest high exploitation of stone quarries.[10]
During the Gypsum period, subsistence strategies shifted to rely more on hunting, and early Desert Serrano adapted the bow and arrow. A much cooler and moister environment meant intensified occupation of the area.[11]
Increased moisture during the "Rose Spring" period, 1700–1000 BP, is closely correlated with continuous Indigenous occupation of the Western Mojave, followed by an abandonment of the area during a subsequent drought.[10]
The firstTakic speakers are speculated to have arrived in the area around theShoshonean Period, around 1100 CE. These are thought to be the ancestors of the modern-day Serrano groups.[11]
The Spanish foundedMission San Gabriel Arcangel in 1771, south of theSan Gabriel Mountains and southwest of the San Bernardino Mountains. With the establishment of the mission, the Serrano lands claimed by the Spanish came under the jurisdiction of the mission and its subsequent outposts, orasistencias, in particular theSan Bernardino de Sena Estancia, established in 1819. With theCahuilla andQuechan tribes, in 1812 the Serrano revolted against it and other local missions practicingIndian reductions.[citation needed]
There is significant historical documentation of trade between Serrano peoples, other, non-Serrano Indigenous groups, and the Spanish in California during the 18th and 19th centuries. Diary accounts of trade from Franciscans and oral accounts from Native Serrano both discuss the Serrano "exploitation" of the Mojave River, and its use to efficiently trade both food and beads.[12][5] Coastal California groups tradedshell beads andasphaltum to Southwestern groups, such as and including the Serrano, forceramics andtextiles. Coastal shell beads and shell jewelry are frequently found in pre-modern Southwestern burial sites. The traded materials are treated as "prestige goods" due to the wealthy contexts in which they are currently found byarchaeologists and other researchers, indicating a healthy trade economy. The power of Indigenous trade relations hindered Spanish Colonial forces from regulating [taxing] "neophytes" and hinterland natives. Textiles woven by Southwestern groups were extremely valuable to Coastal groups, and historical accounts describe the long-distance trade of these textiles through Mojave desert traders.[13]
In 1819, Serrano were relocated toestancia throughout southern California, such as the Asistencia inRedlands, California.[14][2] The Serrano builtMill Creek Zanja here, an irrigation system which provided water for most of the region.
In 1834 the MexicanAlta California government forcibly relocated many Serrano to the missions. They suffered devastatingsmallpox outbreaks in 1840 and 1860.[citation needed]
Due to the cultural suppression that occurred during the Mission Period, there was one remaininghümtcmedicine man who revived religious ceremonies nearly lost to time in the early 1900s, as documented byanthropologist andethnographerRuth F. Benedict. Ceremonies such as thetuwituaim [dance] revive not only Serrano religious and spiritual practices, but communal and familial practices as well. Spiritual practices followed by female practitioners are often associated with the pursuit of good health, such as the hot sand pit. Women practiced health rituals to rid themselves of bad energy associated with taboo, such as menstruation periods.[15]
In 1867 the Yuhaviatam band of Serrano were the victims of a massacre conducted by American settlers of the San Bernardino Valley, during a 32-day campaign at Chimney Rock. The massacre was a response to a raid, probably carried out byChemehuevi, on a white settlement at Lake Arrowhead, during which buildings were burned. Three American ranch hands were killed at a ranch called Los Flores in Summit Valley, near present-day Hesperia. Tribal leaderSantos Manuel led the survivors from the mountains to the valley, where they established permanent residence adjacent to the hot springs near present-dayHighland.[citation needed]
In 1891 the United States established theSan Manuel Reservation for the Serrano people, which took its name to honor of Chief Santos Manuel.[2][citation needed]
The Serrano historically lived in theSan Bernardino Mountains and into theSan Bernardino Valley, and later extended northwest through east into theMojave Desert, and west into theSan Gabriel Mountains, theSierra Pelona Mountains, and the southernTehachapi Mountains.[citation needed]
The Serrano populated theSan Bernardino Mountains and extended northwest into theMojave River area of theMojave Desert[citation needed] and west into theTejon Creek watershed in theTehachapi Mountains. The Serrano populations along Tejon Creek were identified as theCuahajai orCuabajay, theirexonyms by the neighboringMojave tribe. Mountain camps were used for hunting. One such encampment was accidentally unearthed by the U.S. Forest Service fighting a wildfire in 2003 nearBaldwin Lake. Uncovered were artifacts of non-localjasper andobsidian, ash and charcoal, grinding stones, and fire pits possibly dating back 1,000 years.[16]
Serrano villages included Akxawiet,Cucamonga, Homhoabit, Jurumpa,Juyubit, Muscupiabit, Topapaibit (Victorville),Guapiabit (Hesperia), Paso del Cajon, San Benito,San Gorgonio, San Pascual, (Rancho) San Timoteo, Temeku (Rancheria), Tolocabi, andYucaipa.[citation needed]
The modernYuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation maintains ancient trade relations with local Californian groups such as theYurok. San Manuel Public Relations Manager, Jenna Brady, believes that these ancient trade relations should be maintained to both stimulate cultural growth and to stimulate economic security for Indigenous Californian groups. The tribe is currently analyzing prospects of new and ongoing inter-tribal relations, based on historic trade relations.[17]
Estimates have varied as scholars struggle to determine the precontact populations of most Native groups in California.(SeePopulation of Native California.)Alfred L. Kroeber put the combined 1770 population of the Serrano,Kitanemuk, andTataviam at 3,500 and the Serrano proper (excluding theVanyume) at 1,500.[18] Lowell John Bean suggested an aboriginal Serrano population of about 2,500.[19]
As noted, smallpox epidemics and social disruption reduced the population. The 1880 census reported only 381 Serranos, a numberHelen Hunt Jackson thought was too low as it did not account for those who were living in remote areas.[20] Kroeber estimated the combined population of the Serrano, Kitanemuk, and Tataviam in 1910 as 150.
TheMorongo Reservation inBanning, California, and theSan Manuel Reservation nearSan Bernardino, California, are both federally recognizedIndian reservations belonging to the Serrano people.[21][22]
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