{"id":"JSTEWARD1941-001","label":"Fish Springs Northern Paiute wooden toy bullroarer","people_or_site":"Fish Springs Northern Paiute (NP-FSp)","country_current":"United States","historic_region":"Fish Springs, Owens Valley, Inyo County, California","macroregion":"North America / Great Basin","local_name":"","source_term":"Bull-roarer","source_language":"English","object_description":"A whirrer of wood, not the mountain-sheep-horn form.","function_summary":"A toy; the wind-making use was denied here.","attestation_type":"ethnographic_attestation","source_key":"steward1941_ced4_nevada_shoshoni","source_type":"primary_ethnography","source_url":"https://digicoll.lib.berkeley.edu/record/84152/files/ucar004-003.pdf","page_or_plate":"printed p. 307, element 1870 and sub-elements 1871-1874 (column FS); informant p. 214","map_confidence":"medium_high","plot_status":"plot","coordinate_basis":"Fish Springs, Owens Valley, Inyo County, California. Territory anchor for the named people; not a use site.","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"In the Owens Valley the bullroarer was a child's toy: a flat wooden slat swung on a thong from a short handle stick, whirled for the noise it made. Not horn — the mountain-sheep-horn blade belonged to Death Valley, over the range — and not weather. Steward found the Great Basin divided on this instrument, the southern half using it as a plaything, the northern half swinging it to make the wind blow. Fish Springs lies on the southern side of that line, and denied the wind outright.","pull_quote":"","pull_quote_translation":"","pull_quote_cite":"","term_gloss":"","cls":"play_practical","class_label":"Play / practical","color":"#24766D","is_candidate":false,"flags":["toy_survival"],"f_jade_complex":false,"f_women_taboo":false,"f_women_special":false,"f_snake":false,"sources":[{"citation":"Julian H. Steward, 'Culture Element Distributions: XIII, Nevada Shoshoni,' Anthropological Records 4:2 (1941), p. 307, element 1870; informant notes p. 214","url":"https://digicoll.lib.berkeley.edu/record/84152/files/ucar004-003.pdf","archive":"https://web.archive.org/web/20261013012733/https://digicoll.lib.berkeley.edu/record/84152/files/ucar004-003.pdf"}],"source_citations":"Julian H. Steward, 'Culture Element Distributions: XIII, Nevada Shoshoni,' Anthropological Records 4:2 (1941), p. 307, element 1870; informant notes p. 214","source_display":"Julian H. Steward, 'Culture Element Distributions: XIII, Nevada Shoshoni,' Anthropological Records 4:2 (1941), p. 307, element 1870; informant notes p. 214","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"A whirrer of wood, not the mountain-sheep-horn form.","function_display":"A toy; the wind-making use was denied here.","confidence_display":"medium to high","attestation_label":"ethnographic attestation","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"fish springs","display_name":"Fish Springs Northern Paiute wooden toy bullroarer","image":{"full":"assets/objects/review_2026_07_15/NA-S1952-005_penn22610_467908.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/review_2026_07_15/thumbs/NA-S1952-005_penn22610_467908_thumb.jpg","alt":"Zuni wooden bullroarer 22610, with a narrow blade and long cord laid out beside it.","credit":"Courtesy of the Penn Museum, object 22610","license":"Penn Museum — educational/non-commercial use","source_page":"https://collections.penn.museum/collections/object/85942","rehosted":true,"representative":true,"caption":"Zuni wooden bullroarer with its surviving cord, Penn Museum.","pool_id":"american-west-zuni-corded","last_modified":"2026-08-11"},"slug":"jsteward1941-001-fish-springs-northern-paiute-np-fsp"}