The Bullroarer Atlas

NA-S1952-011 - secondary catalog

Serrano

United States - California - North America

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A leaf-shaped wooden bullroarer with saw-toothed edges running its whole length, corded through a hole at one end - a generic specimen standing...
Representative image. A leaf-shaped wooden bullroarer with saw-toothed edges running its whole length, corded through a hole at one end - a generic specimen standing in for the Serrano instrument described here, since no photograph of it has surfaced. Kulturhistorisk museum, Universitetet i Oslo (UEM26188), CC BY-SA 4.0 CC BY-SA 4.0 Image source

Source term: bullroarer

Among the Serrano of the San Bernardino Mountains, the bullroarer was a flat blade of wood whirled on a string until it roared; the record that carries it notes one job, a signal to assemble people. Kroeber, surveying California, observed that the instrument reached as far south as the Luiseño, where it was tied to hunting or mourning observances at that end of the state.

Function
Instrument used as a signal for assembling people
Map confidence
medium - regional_anchor: Representative Serrano/San Bernardino Mountains anchor; no exact site in Seder summary
Source location
51-54

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