Introduction
The Great Basin is a dry desert located in the southwestern United States. The Great Basin Indians were a diverse group of peoples all brought together by a commonality in their language and geographic setting. When mapping tribal distributions, early anthropologists such as Julian Steward often used linguistics to determine the regions and territories of each tribe. Due to a common Shoshone language, these tribes are sometimes grouped together and called the Great Basin Shoshoneans. There are three divisions of the Shoshonean linguistic family: Mono-Paviotso (Northern Paiute), Shoshone-Comanche (Shoshone), and Ute-Chemehuevi (Southern Paiute).
These tribes, although linked by a common dialect, differed in political organization, territoriality, and social organization. The Northern Paiute, Southern Paiute, and some parts of the Shoshone were organized into villages, where all occupants of a village cooperated with each other. It is thought that other groups may have had this organization prior to the introduction of the horse by Europeans. These villages were often related, whether it be by economic factors or social factors, to neighboring villages and often they would come together to hunt or gather.
In other parts of the Great Basin within the Shoshone and the Ute, the main organization was the band. This organization was seen in less populated areas, and people owned and defended their territory. The horse may have changed the ecology of some of these peoples and lent to their organization into bands as opposed to villages. These tribes, while similar in some ways, were also unique as a part of the Great Basin distribution.1
Distribution map of the four primary groups of the Great Basin.
Shoshone
Shoshone groups were found throughout the Great Basin area. They were located in modern-day Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, and California. The material technology of the Shoshone was subsistence oriented and simple. Basketry implements involving seed collection, winnowing, parching, and boiling were developed, as well as metates for grinding. Like their technology, Shoshone life was mainly about survival in the harsh environments in which they resided. The major food sources utilized by the Shoshone were pinyon nuts, seeds, roots, and small game. Large game was occasionally hunted, such as antelope and big horn sheep, however these resources were scarce throughout the majority of the Shoshone territory.
The fall in the Great Basin was a time of relative abundance (the pinyon nut harvest and communal hunts), therefore the social interaction could reach beyond the family level. One such communal hunt that brought larger groups together was the annual rabbit drive. However, due to environmental factors, Shoshonean society was limited to family level integration.
Shoshone society lacked internal political control, had flux in populations, and a lack of land ownership as well. The horse allowed for larger and more successful hunting territories, which in turn led to larger and more frequent aggregations of people. The further enhancement of war-like tendencies among the Shoshone was a negative impact brought about by the inception of horses from contact with Euro-American settlers.234
Photos: A typical Shoshone camp encountered by post European encroachment (Left). Typical conditions encountered in the harsh environment of the Great Basin (Right).
Northern Paiute
The Northern Paiutes of the Great Basin lived primarily in the western half of Nevada, an area consisting primarily of the mountains and valleys of the Sierra Nevadas. The people did not form a coherent tribe, but rather are associated with each other because they speak the same language. Families joined together to form bands in districts, the highest level of formal organization of the Northern Paiutes.5
Fall subsistence practices were centered around the pinyon nuts found in the mountain highlands. Groups gathered together in districts to harvest the nuts in large numbers. Each district owned territory in which to harvest pinyon nuts, and trespassing into another district’s land during this season was heavily frowned upon, though permission was commonly granted if requested. When the fall pinyon nut harvest was over, groups splintered to form smaller settlements for the winter. During years when some pinyon nuts remained after the fall harvest, winter living was usually in the mountains. If pinyon nuts were scarce, settlements were moved to the valleys where groups relied on hunting and other seed resources. During the spring, groups were small and lived in the valleys, relying on remaining pinyon nuts, seeds stored from the previous year, as well as hunting and some fishing. Summer settlements were also small, as resources were found in low densities and could not be exploited efficiently by large groups.6
The Northern Paiute material culture was based primarily on subsistence. Weapons, pottery, basketry, and other items were all designed for a task related to hunting, gathering, or food preparation. All meat was cooked before eating, and vegetable and seed items made up a majority of the diet since game animals were scarce in the Great Basin. Districts had ownership of hunting territories as well as pinyon nut territories, and group hunting across boundaries was forbidden, though individuals could hunt anywhere. The primary weapon for individual hunting was the bow and arrow. As travelers, they usually wore some form of shoe or sandal to protect the soles of their feet, and valued personal adornment of clothing or the body (in the form of tattoos or painting).7
Social organization was based on the nuclear family. Winter camps consisted of pit houses built out of available material, while summer houses were more temporary. Fall and winter camps also contained a sweat house for rituals involving the larger group of people who gathered there. Rituals often consisted of dances and other ceremonies, and were very important to the Northern Paiutes, especially in the fall when people came together in a time of plenty. Shamanism was also prevalent within the Northern Paiute, and shamans were valued as healers and leaders of ritual practices. Games were common and a form of education for younger members of the family, as many skills were gained through observation and practice rather than formal teaching.89
Southern Paiute
The Southern Paiute were found in a large arc that extended west from southern Utah, across southern Nevada and northern Arizona, all the way to California. This environment includes not only the Great Basin but also parts of the Colorado Plateau and Mojave Desert. The Paiute have been further divided into fifteen sub-groups.10
They lived as foragers utilizing pinyon nuts, mesquite, and many varieties of berries and seeds. They hunted many small mammals, such as rabbits and squirrels, and larger animals, such as deer. Some of the Southern Paiute sub-groups also practiced some agriculture, raising maize, squash and beans and in some locations making use of irrigation.
They lived in patterns similar to those of the Northern Paiute. The main social grouping is the nuclear family and families would come together and separate based on seasonal mobility patterns. The largest grouping of the year was during the pinyon nut harvest season.11
The Paiute were also involved in the Ghost Dance movement. For the Paiute this movement was about the charisma and personality of its leader (Jack Wilson) and not a source of ferment. The Paiute were not concentrated on reservations, were not dependent on government rations, and still maintained their subsistence strategy of foraging for seeds and pinyon nuts, and hunting small game.12
Ute
The Ute, a name which means “land of the sun,” are the basis for the state name of Utah. There are seven major nomadic bands: the Capote, the Mouache, the Parianucs, the Tebeguache, the Uintah, the Weeminuche, and the Yampa.
These nomadic bands lived in Colorado, Utah, and northern New Mexico prior to European settlement. European or Spanish colonialism led to many changes in Ute economics and lifestyle, such as band consolidation, equestrian adoption, and increased warfare. The introduction of Spanish metals replaced native weaponry, the introduction of the horse affected native location and movement, and the motivation to trade with the colonists enhanced inter-tribal conflict and subsequent slavery.13
The most common residential pattern recorded within the Ute was matrilocal residence, although many different types of residence have been observed. The economic importance of women may contribute to matrilocal residential patterns. Also, band membership is inherited through the mother, which reinforces matrilocal living. However it is common to observe residence patterns based on fictive and procreative kin.14
In the past the Ute and the Southern Paiute were observed to be very different. According to three main criteria: horse nomadism in the Ute, linguistic differences, and agriculture in the Southern Paiute; these tribes are more closely related than previously expected. For example, there is little to no linguistic difference and the agricultural and nomadism differences are based on self classification and small group identification only. In a larger scope, these two tribes are quite similar.15
The Ute were and are very spiritual peoples. Primarily relying on the environment for religious ceremonies and practices, the Ute Bear Dance and the Ute Sun Dance are the two most important ceremonies throughout the tribe. Also, there was a strong shamanistic presence throughout Ute society. For example, shamans were present in all ceremonial dances and associated with the usage of Peyote. Peyote is an important part of Ute society due to its importance in ritualistic processes. For example, moral, curative and predictive functions are associated with peyote; although the main use is to cure illness. Also, there are cultural and social uses for peyote such as strengthening and unifying social structure, combining prohibitory feelings about missionary influence, and forming a solid defense of native opinion. The Ignacio and the Towaoc cults are largely associated with origins of peyote use.16
The Sun dance is a ritualistic process led by a shaman and practiced in the first few weeks of July. The sun dance literally means “dancing without water” and is accompanied by fasting and unceasing dance. After the ceremony, fasting, and dancing the participants are intended to be lead into deep and exhausted sleeping periods when the dreams come. The sun dance is also accompanied by trade and often many visitors and participants from other tribes. The dance is an example of the spiritual life the Ute live especially with the presence of a shaman and the belief that the dance will provide strength during drought and harsh conditions.17
The Bear dance is similar to the sun dance in that it is a religious and spiritual practice led by a shaman, uniting tribes, and promoting trade. However, the bear dance differs in that it is a part of their origin myth. In fact, the Ute believe that their primal ancestors were bears. After the bears evolved into a race of Indians they too died and went to the future land and lived as a form of bear but also encompassed the wisdom of humans. Although this transgression from human to bear is no longer believed, the Ute continue to practice this dance because the bears are believed to be related to the Ute. The bear dance is a form of animal worship which assists in strengthening friendship between the magical animals and the Indians, intensifying their belief in immortality and symbolic practices.18 The dance is held at only the following three localities in the Uintah basin: Whiterocks, by the native Uintah Ute and White River Ute from western Colorado; Ouray reservation on the Green river by the Uncompahgre Ute from near Montrose, Colorado; and Myton, a primarily non-reservation Uintah Ute society. The Bear Dance Chief is chosen by the men of the tribe, not to be confused with the Tribal Chief who attains his position through age and prestige rather than election.19
Typical Bear Dance practiced by Ute Indians
Contemporary Great Basin Indians
The tribes of the Great Basin area today no longer live as hunter-gather groups. However, there is important research that is ongoing among these groups. This research helps to shed light on the acculturation process that these groups have faced through their interaction with outside groups. The research presented here is not exhaustive, but meant to highlight the work being done currently among contemporary Shoshone, Paiute, and Ute.
Contemporary Great Basin Native Americans
One problem facing these groups is a loss of their traditional environment and plant species that are culturally important. An example of this pressure is the Yucca Mountain project. In order to evaluate the impact this project would have on the Great Basin Native Americans a study was conducted in which the cultural significance of various plant species was assessed. The importance of this work is that Native Americans take a holistic approach and say all species are equally important. This then allows anthropologists and Native Americans themselves to advocate for protection of these environments more effectively.20
Contemporary Southern Paiute
Another topic of importance is the role of women in these societies. This is one of the most important aspects of acculturation. A study done among the Southern Paiute shows that women play a vital role in the economic life of the tribe. They also are taking active roles in political spheres as well. However, their influence is mainly in education and other traditional female roles. This shows that while division of labor outside the home is reflecting more western values, inside the household the role of women is more traditional.21
Contemporary Ute
Today, the Ute reservation lies within a three-county area called the Uintah Basin. It is the second largest Indian Reservation in the United States, encompassing over 4.5 million acres. Ute society has a tribal membership of approximately 3,157 and over half of its members live on the reservation itself. The Ute manage their own tribal government and administer approximately 1.3 million acres of trust land. Currently, in the Northern Ute Indian tribes there are efforts to introduce a written form of the ancestral language to decrease the resistance of oral language and fluency in Northern Ute reservations. Literacy in the Northern Ute language is not incorporated in traditional ancestral language and therefore is not readily accepted. This push towards literacy is seen to be beneficial because tribal members believe it will help strengthen educational opportunities and may prevent children from dropping out of school. However, written language violates features of the Ute language such hierarchical access to knowledge and status within tribes.22 See a contemporary Ute dance here.
Contemporary Shoshone
The Timbisha Shoshone won a long-standing dispute with the Federal government over land rights in 1998. This dispute began in 1933 when President Herbert Hoover confiscated the Timbisha’s tribal lands and created the Death Valley National Monument. President Clinton repatriated 10,000 acres of land to the tribe in November of 2000. Today, the Timbisha Shoshone number approximately 300 members.
In the Wind River Shoshone, who today live on a reservation in Wyoming, there are different orientations on life between the generations. In many older generation Native Americans, their view is more closely like that of their ancestors, "Indian Oriented" whereas the second or third generations are more likely to be "white oriented." This is based on family structure and child rearing, however it illustrates that in today's world some Native Americans are struggling to maintain their own identity.23
Bibliography
Blackhawk, Ned
2007 The displacement of Violence: Ute Diplomacy and the Making of New Mexico’s Eighteenth-Century Northern Borderlands. Ethnohisotry 54(4):723-755.
Heizer, Robert F.
1970 Ethnographic Notes on the Northern Paiute of Humboldt Sink, West Central Nevada. In Languages and Cultures of Western North America. Earl H. Swanson, Jr., eds. Pp. 232-245. Idaho: The Idaho State University Press.
Kelly, Isabel T.
1934 Southern Paiute Bands. American Anthropologist, New Series 36(4):548-560
Kelly, Isabel T., and Catherine S. Fowler
1986 Southern Paiute, Handbook of North American Indians. 11: 368-397.
Knack, Martha C.
1989 Contemporary Southern Paiute Women and the Measurement of Women's Economic and Political Status. Ethnology 28(3): 233-248
Lang, Gottfried O.
1957 Survey Research on the Uintah and Ouray Ute Reservation. American Anthropologist 59(3):527-532.
Leap, William L.
1991 Pathways and Barriers to Indian Language Literacy. Anthropology and Education Quarterly 22:21-41.
Logan, Brad
1980 The Ghost Dance among the Paiute: An Ethnohistorical View of the Documentary Evidence 1889-1893. Ethnohistory 27(3):267-288.
Opler, Marvin K.
1940 The Character and History of the Southern Ute Peyote Rite. American Anthropologist 42:463-478.
1941 The Integration of the Sun Dance in Ute Religion. American Anthropologist 43:550-572.
Park, Willard Z., Edgar E. Siskin, Anne M. Cooke, William T. Mulloy, Marvin K. Opler, and Isabel T. Kelly.
1938 Tribal Distribution in the Great Basin. American Anthropologist 40, (4): 622-638.
Powers, Stephen
1970 The Life and Culture of the Washo and Paiutes. Ethnohistory 17(3/4):117-149. Don D. Fowler and Catherine S. Fowler, eds.
Reed, Verner Z.
1896 The Ute Bear Dance. American Anthropologist 9(7):237-244.
Steward, Julian H.
1932 A Uintah Ute Bear Dance. American Anthropologist 34(2):263-273.
1933 University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology, vol. 33, no. 3: Ethnography of the Owens Valley Paiute. Berkeley: University of California Press.1937 Linguistic Distributions and Political Groups of the Great Basin Shoshoneans. American Anthropologist 39(4, Part 1):625-634.
1939a Changes in Shoshonean Indian Culture. The Scientific Monthly 49(6):524-537.
1939b Some Observations on Shoshonean Distributions. American Anthropologist 41(2):261-265.
Steward, Julian H. and Erminie Wheeler-Voeglin
1974 Paiute Indians, vol III: The Northern Paiute Indians. Garland American Indian Ethnohistory Series. New York: Garland Publishing.
Stewart, Omer C.
1941 A Reinterpretation of the Ute-Southern Paiute Classification. American Anthropologist 43:303-308.
Stoffle, Richard W, et al.
1990 Calculating the Cultural Significance of the American Indian Plants: Paiute and Shoshone Ethnobotany at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. American Anthropologist, New Series 92(2): 416-432
Tefft, Stanton K.
1968. Intergenerational Value Differentials and Family Structure among the Wind River Shoshone. American Anthropologist 70(2):330-333
Underhill, Ruth
1941 The Northern Paiute Indians of California and Nevada. Kansas: Branch of Education, Bureau of Indian Affairs.