Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin

File:Utes chief Severo and family, 1899.jpg

Ute chief Severo and his family 1899

File:Alfred Jacob Miller - Shoshone Indian and his Pet Horse - Walters 37194062.jpg

Shoshone Indian and his horse

The Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin are Native Americans of the northern Great Basin, Snake River Plain, and upper Colorado River basin. The "Great Basin" is a cultural classification of Indigenous peoples of the Americas and a cultural region located between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada, in what is now Nevada, and parts of Oregon, California, Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah. The Great Basin region at the time of European contact was ~Template:Convert.<ref name=Pritzker>Template:Cite book</ref> There is very little precipitation in the Great Basin area which affects the lifestyles and cultures of the inhabitants.

Great Basin peoples

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• Fremont culture (400 CE–1300 CE), Utah<ref name=Volume11/>Template:Rp
• Kawaiisu, southern inland California<ref name=dix/>
• Timbisha or Panamint or Koso, southeastern California
• Washo, Nevada and California<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• • Palagewan
  • Pahkanapil

Northern Paiute

• Northern Paiute, eastern California, Nevada, Oregon, southwestern Idaho<ref name=dix/>
  • Kucadikadi, Mono Lake Paiute, California
• Bannock, Idaho<ref name=dix>D'Azevedo ix</ref>

Mono

• Mono, southeastern California
  • Eastern Mono (Owens Valley Paiute), southeastern California
  • Western Mono, southeastern California

Southern Paiute

• Southern Paiute, Arizona, Nevada, Utah<ref>Pritzker 230</ref>
  • Chemehuevi, southeastern California
  • Kaibab, northwestern Arizona
  • Kaiparowits, southwestern Utah
  • Moapa, southern Nevada
  • Panaca
  • Panguitch, Utah
  • Paranigets, southern Nevada
  • Shivwits, southwestern Utah

Shoshone

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• Eastern Shoshone people:

• Guchundeka', Kuccuntikka, Buffalo Eaters<ref name=plains>Loether, Christopher. "Shoshones." Encyclopedia of the Great Plains. Retrieved 20 Oct 2013.</ref><ref name=s335>Shimkin 335</ref>
• Tukkutikka, Tukudeka, Mountain Sheep Eaters, joined the Northern Shoshone<ref name=s335/>
• Boho'inee', Pohoini, Pohogwe, Sage Grass people, Sagebrush Butte People<ref name=plains/><ref name=s335/><ref name=mm306/>

• Northern Shoshone people:

• Agaideka, Salmon Eaters, Lemhi, Snake River and Lemhi River Valley<ref name=mm306>Murphy and Murphy 306</ref><ref name=mm287/>
• Doyahinee', Mountain people<ref name=plains/>
• Kammedeka, Kammitikka, Jack Rabbit Eaters, Snake River, Great Salt Lake<ref name=mm306/>
• Hukundüka, Porcupine Grass Seed Eaters, Wild Wheat Eaters, possibly synonymous with Kammitikka<ref name=mm306/><ref name=tpc280/>
• Tukudeka, Dukundeka', Sheep Eaters (Mountain Sheep Eaters), Sawtooth Range, Idaho<ref name=mm306/><ref name=mm287/>
• Yahandeka, Yakandika, Groundhog Eaters, lower Boise, Payette, and Weiser Rivers<ref name=mm306/><ref name=mm287>Murphy and Murphy 287</ref>

• Western Shoshone people:

• Kusiutta, Goshute (Gosiute), Great Salt Desert and Great Salt Lake, Utah<ref name=tpc280/>

• Cedar Valley Goshute
• Deep Creek Goshute
• Rush Valley Goshute
• Skull Valley Goshute, Wipayutta, Weber Ute<ref name=tpc280/>
• Tooele Valley Goshute
• Trout Creek Goshute<ref name=tpc280/>

• Kuyatikka, Kuyudikka, Bitterroot Eaters, Halleck, Mary's River, Clover Valley, Smith Creek Valley, Nevada<ref name=tpc280/>
• Mahaguadüka, Mentzelia Seed Eaters, Ruby Valley, Nevada<ref name=tpc280/>
• Painkwitikka, Penkwitikka, Fish Eaters, Cache Valley, Idaho and Utah<ref name=tpc280/>
• Pasiatikka, Redtop Grass Eaters, Deep Creek Gosiute, Deep Creek Valley, Antelope Valley<ref name=tpc280/>
• Tipatikka, Pinenut Eaters, northernmost band<ref name=tpc280/>
• Tsaiduka, Tule Eaters, Railroad Valley, Nevada<ref name=tpc280/>
• Tsogwiyuyugi, Elko, Nevada<ref name=tpc280/>
• Waitikka, Ricegrass Eaters, Ione Valley, Nevada<ref name=tpc280/>
• Watatikka, Ryegrass Seed Eaters, Ruby Valley, Nevada<ref name=tpc280/>
• Wiyimpihtikka, Buffalo Berry Eaters<ref name=tpc280>Thomas, Pendleton, and Cappannari 280–283</ref>

Ute

File:Detroit Photographic Company (1041).jpg

Jose Romero and family, all Ute, photochrome postcard

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• Northern Ute
  • San Pitch, central Utah
  • Seuvarits, Moah Utah area
  • Timpanogos, north central Utah
  • Uncompahgre (Tabeguache), central and northern Colorado
  • Uintah
  • White River Utes, Colorado and eastern Utah
    • Parianuche, along Colorado River valley in central and western Colorado
      • Sabuagana, along Colorado River valley in central and western Colorado
    • Yampa
• Southern Ute
  • Capote, southeastern Colorado and New Mexico<ref name=Volume11/>Template:Rp
  • Muache, south and central Colorado<ref name=Volume11/>Template:Rp
• Ute Mountain
  • Weeminuche, western Colorado, eastern Utah, northwestern New Mexico
• Merged into the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah
  • Moanunts, Salina, Utah
  • Pahvant, western Utah

History

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Fremont culture petroglyphs of big horn sheep, Nine Mile Canyon, Utah

File:Sarah Winnemucca.jpg

Sarah Winnemucca a Northern Paiute writer and activist

The oldest known petroglyphs in North America are in the Great Basin. Near the banks of Winnemucca Lake in Nevada, this rock art dates between 10,500 and 14,800 years ago.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Archaeologists called the local period 9,000 BCE to 400 CE the Great Basin Desert Archaic Period. This was followed by the time of the Fremont culture, who were hunter-gatherers and agriculturalists. Numic language-speakers, ancestors of today's Western Shoshone and both Northern Paiute people and Southern Paiute people entered the region around the 14th century CE.<ref name=gbh>"History Timeline of Great Basin National Heritage Area." Template:Webarchive Great Basin National Heritage Area. Retrieved 24 June 2013.</ref>

The first Europeans to document their encounters with Native groups in the Great Basin was Juan María Antonio de Rivera's expedition in 1765. Rivera led two expeditions from Santa Fe that year, the first departing sometime in June. Rivera's party camped with Paiutes on the Dolores River in July, and returned to Santa Fe for supplies. His second expedition departed Santa Fe in late September and went considerably farther, crossing the Colorado just south of present-day Moab, Utah. Rivera's diaries greatly influenced the Domínguez–Escalante expedition, which set off 11 years later in 1776 and passed far from present day Delta, Utah.<ref name=gbh/> Great Basin settlement was relatively free of non-Native settlers until the first Mormon settlers arrived in 1847. Within ten years, the first Indian reservation was established, in order to assimilate the native population. The Goshute Reservation was created in 1863.<ref name=gbh/> The attempted acculturation process included sending children to Indian schools and limiting the landbases and resources of the reservations.

Because their contact with European-Americans and African-Americans occurred comparatively late, Great Basin tribes maintain their religion and culture and were leading proponents of 19th century cultural and religious renewals. Two Paiute prophets, Wodziwob and Wovoka, introduced the Ghost Dance in a ceremony to commune with departed loved ones and bring renewal of buffalo herds and precontact lifeways. The Ute Bear Dance emerged on the Great Basin. The Sun Dance and Peyote religion flourished in the Great Basin, as well.<ref name=Volume11>Template:Cite book</ref>

In 1930, the Ely Shoshone Reservation was established, followed by the Duckwater Indian Reservation in 1940.<ref name=gbh/>

Conditions for the Native American population of the Great Basin were erratic throughout the 20th century. Economic improvement emerged as a result of President Franklin Roosevelt's Indian New Deal in the 1930s, while activism and legal victories in the 1970s have improved conditions significantly. Nevertheless, the communities struggled against with poverty and low unemployment.

Today self-determination, beginning with the 1975 passage of the Indian Self-determination and Education Assistance Act,<ref name=gbh/> has enabled Great Basin tribes to develop economic opportunities for their members.

Cultures

File:Beadedmoccasins.jpg

Beaded moccasins that belonged to Chief Washakie (Shoshone), Wyoming, c. 1900

Different ethnic groups of Great Basin tribes share certain common cultural elements that distinguish them from surrounding groups. All but the Washoe traditionally speak Numic languages, and tribal groups, who historically lived peacefully and often shared common territories, have intermingled considerably. Prior to the 20th century, Great Basin peoples were predominantly hunters and gatherers.

"Desert Archaic" or more simply "The Desert Culture" refers to the culture of the Great Basin tribes. This culture is characterized by the need for mobility to take advantage of seasonally available food supplies. The use of pottery was rare due to its weight, but intricate baskets were woven for containing water, cooking food, winnowing grass seeds, and storage, including the storage of pine nuts, a Paiute-Shoshone staple. Heavy items such as metates would be cached rather than carried from foraging area to foraging area. Agriculture was not practiced within the Great Basin itself, although it was practiced in adjacent areas (modern agriculture in the Great Basin requires either large mountain reservoirs or deep artesian wells). Likewise, the Great Basin tribes had no permanent settlements, although winter villages might be revisited winter after winter by the same group of families. In the summer, the largest group was usually the nuclear family due to the low density of food supplies.

In the early historical period, the Great Basin tribes were actively expanding to the north and east, where they developed a horse-riding bison-hunting culture. These people, including the Bannock and Eastern Shoshone, share traits with Plains Indians.

Today, the Great Basin Native Artists, which was cofounded by Melissa Melero-Moose and Ben Aleck represents Indigenous visual artists from the region and curates groups exhibitions.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

External links

• Great Basin Native Artists, a collective of indigenous artists from the Great Basin
• Great Basin artwork in Infinity of Nations, National Museum of the American Indian