Martis is the name given by scientists to the group of
Native Americans who lived in
Northern California
Northern California (colloquially known as NorCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Spanning the state's northernmost 48 counties, its main population centers incl ...
on both the eastern and western sides of the
Sierra Nevada
The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...
. The Martis complex lasted from 2000 BCE to 500 CE, during the
Middle Archaic era. Evidence of Martis habitation has been found from
Carson River
The Carson River is a northwestern List of Nevada rivers, Nevada river that empties into the Carson Sink, an endorheic basin. The main stem of the river is long although the addition of the East Fork makes the total length , traversing five co ...
and
Reno, Nevada
Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...
in the east to
Auburn, California
Auburn is a city in and the county seat of Placer County, California, United States. Its population was 13,776 during the 2020 census. Auburn is known for its California Gold Rush history and is registered as a California Historical Landmark.
Au ...
and
Oroville, California
Oroville (''Oro'', Spanish for "Gold" and ''Ville'', French for "town") is the county seat of Butte County, California, United States. The population of the city was 15,506 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, up from 13,004 in the 200 ...
in the west. The Martis name refers to the geographic region of
Martis Creek which spans
Nevada County, California
Nevada County () is a county located in the U.S. state of California, in the Sierra Nevada. As of the 2020 census, the population was 102,241. The county seat is Nevada City. Nevada County comprises the Truckee-Grass Valley, CA Micropolitan ...
and
Placer County, California
Placer County ( ; Spanish for "sand deposit"), officially the County of Placer, is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 404,739. The county seat is Auburn.
Placer County is included in the Grea ...
.
Culture
Martis traveled to lower elevations in the winter and higher elevations in the summer in loose-knit groups. They lived in base camps on valley margins, often near
hot springs
A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...
. In the winter, they lived in
pit house
A pit-house (or ''pit house'', ''pithouse'') is a house built in the ground and used for shelter. Besides providing shelter from the most extreme of weather conditions, these structures may also be used to store food (just like a pantry, a larder ...
s with
hearth
A hearth () is the place in a home where a fire is or was traditionally kept for home heating and for cooking, usually constituted by at least a horizontal hearthstone and often enclosed to varying degrees by any combination of reredos (a lo ...
s, pit caches, and occasionally burials. Extended families are believed to have lived together. Summer camps were often located near springs or creeks.
[Elston, 143]
They shared certain traits which included making
stone tools
A stone tool is, in the most general sense, any tool made either partially or entirely out of stone. Although stone tool-dependent societies and cultures still exist today, most stone tools are associated with prehistoric (particularly Stone Ag ...
from
basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...
, using pestles and mortars, and hunting with
atlatl
A spear-thrower, spear-throwing lever or ''atlatl'' (pronounced or ; Nahuatl ''ahtlatl'' ) is a tool that uses leverage to achieve greater velocity in dart or javelin-throwing, and includes a bearing surface which allows the user to store ene ...
s and spears. Martis engaged in a
hunter-gatherer
A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fungi, ...
economic system. Martis people processed seeds and hunted big game, such as
bighorn sheep
The bighorn sheep (''Ovis canadensis'') is a species of sheep native to North America. It is named for its large horns. A pair of horns might weigh up to ; the sheep typically weigh up to . Recent genetic testing indicates three distinct subspec ...
,
pronghorn antelope
The pronghorn (, ) (''Antilocapra americana'') is a species of artiodactyl (even-toed, hoofed) mammal indigenous to interior western and central North America. Though not an antelope, it is known colloquially in North America as the American ante ...
,
deer
Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer ...
,
bison
Bison are large bovines in the genus ''Bison'' (Greek: "wild ox" (bison)) within the tribe Bovini. Two extant and numerous extinct species are recognised.
Of the two surviving species, the American bison, ''B. bison'', found only in North Ame ...
, and
elk
The elk (''Cervus canadensis''), also known as the wapiti, is one of the largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. The common ...
.
Descendants
Archaeologist M.J. Moratto states that the Martis were not related to the
Washoe, but may have been linked with the
Maidu
The Maidu are a Native American people of northern California. They reside in the central Sierra Nevada, in the watershed area of the Feather and American rivers. They also reside in Humbug Valley. In Maiduan languages, ''Maidu'' means "man."
...
. However, other scholars (Robert G. Elston and Catherine S. Fowler) suggest that the Martis complex overlaps culturally and geographically with the Kings Beach complex of ancestral Washoe people.
[
]
Sites
The Meadow Lake Petroglyphs
The Meadow Lake Petroglyphs (also known as 4-Nev-3) are located in a restricted area by French Lake, California in the Tahoe National Forest. Attributed to the Martis people, they are listed on the National Register of Historic Places
The ...
, attributed to the Martis, are a national historical landmark
A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places liste ...
. Another notable Martis archaeological site includes the Grouse Lakes Area of Nevada County, called the Martis Archaeological Complex, and cataloged as style 7 rock art.Truckee Meadows
The Truckee Meadows is a valley in Northern Nevada, named for the Truckee River, which collects and drains all water in the valley. Truckee Meadows is also colloquially used as a name for the Reno–Tahoe-Fernley CSA area, even though the metro a ...
–Steamboat Hot Springs, Bordertown, and Hallelujah Junction
''Hallelujah Junction'' is a composition for two pianos written in 1996 by the American composer John Adams. Adams titled his autobiography after this composition. A two-CD retrospective album of works by Adams on the Nonesuch label is also entit ...
.[
]
Notes
References
* D'Azevedo, Warren L. "Washoe." ''Handbook of North American Indians: Great Basin, Volume 11.'' Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1986. .
* Elston, Robert G. "Prehistory of the Western Area." ''Handbook of North American Indians: Great Basin, Volume 11.'' Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1986. .
Further reading
* Foster, D. G., Betts, J., & Sandelin, L. C. (1998). ''The association of Style 7 rock art and the Martis Complex in the northern Sierra Nevada of California''. Sacramento: California Dept. of Forestry and Fire Protection. OCLC 42732872
* Gortner, W. A., & Elsasser, A. B. (1986). ''The Martis Indians: ancient tribe of the Sierra Nevada''. Woodside, Calif: Portola Press.
* Mires, P. B., Kautz, R., Botti, N., & Scott, E. (1992). ''Archaeological testing of nine locations along the Tahoe reach, Martis to Squaw Valley 120 kv transmission line project, Placer County, California''. Nevada City, Calif: Forest Archaeologist, Tahoe National Forest. OCLC 44879837
See also
* Indigenous peoples of California
The indigenous peoples of California (known as Native Californians) are the indigenous inhabitants who have lived or currently live in the geographic area within the current boundaries of California before and after the arrival of Europeans. ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martis People
Native American tribes in California
Native American tribes in Nevada
Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin
History of Nevada County, California
History of Placer County, California
People from Nevada County, California
People from Placer County, California