The Paiute homelands were in a high desert area known as the Great Basin. This region is bounded on the north by the Columbia Plateau and on the south by the Colorado Plateau. It includes southern Oregon and Idaho, a small portion of southwestern Montana, western Wyoming, eastern California, all of Nevada and Utah, a portion of northern Arizona, and most of western Colorado. The Great Basin is an area which is characterized by low rainfall and extremes of temperature.
The designation Paiute does not define a single politically unified tribe, but numerous small bands which share common cultural features, including language and spiritual ceremonies. The various bands were often tied together through kinship brought about by intermarriage between the bands.
The Paiutes are generally divided into three distinct groups: (1) the Northern Paiute whose traditional territory included much of Nevada and Oregon; (2) the Owens Valley Paiute, who lived just east of what is now Yosemite National Park; and (3) the Southern Paiute whose territory included parts of California, southern Nevada, and southern Utah.
The Paiute language belongs to the Numic group of the larger Uto-Aztecan language family. The linguistic and archaeological data seem to suggest that the Numic-speaking people spread into the Great Basin from southeastern California.
Shown above is a Paiute diorama in the High Desert Museum in Bend, Oregon
According to the Museum display:
“The Northern Paiute lived across the southern half of the High Desert region. These hardy and nomadic people ranged throughout an arid landscape from eastern California and southeastern Oregon, most of Nevada and into southern Idaho. They migrated with the seasons to harvest the region’s resources: fish, game, edible plants and roots.”
Another view of the diorama.
Subsistence
In general, the Indian people of the Great Basin tended to be highly mobile to utilize the diverse and scattered subsistence resources of the area. This mobility was not random nomadism but was timed to maximize the seasonal resources of numerous environmental niches within the area. Regarding the Paiutes, Carl Waldman, in his book Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes, reports:
“For the Paiute bands, their activities and whereabouts in the course of a year were dictated by the availability of food.”
In their book Native American Heritage, Merwyn Garbarino and Robert Sasso describe the Paiute subsistence activities this way:
“The Paiute followed a regular seasonal pattern of food-getting within the band’s traditional territory, knowing which roots and bulbs to dig in spring, where seeds and berries ripened in summer, and so on through fall, when the piñon crop came in. As they pursued plant foods, the Paiute also collected almost anything that walked, flew, or crawled—larvae and adult insects, grasshopper, locusts, and ants.”
Prior to the European invasion, the scattered Indian nations of the Great Basin engaged in an intensive utilization of their desert environment. According to anthropologist Jesse D. Jennings, in his chapter in the Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 11: Great Basin:
“Instead of being the uniformly uninviting desert so often visualized, the Great Basin consists of hundreds of special and often rich environments where a widely varying mix of desired plant and animal species was available for harvest.”
This included the gathering of many different plants, the hunting of small game and birds, and the consumption of insects. Carl Waldman reports:
“Because of their foraging practices, the hunter-gatherers of this region are sometimes referred to collectively as Digger Indians.”
The Northern Paiutes gathered about 150 species of plants. Seeds were ground into flour. In their chapter on the Northern Paiutes in the Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 11: Great Basin, Catherine Fowler and Sven Liljeblad report:
“Dried whole berries were added to soups and stews, and dried berry cakes were often taken on journeys away from camp.”
Shown above is a basket used for gathering berries. This was exhibited in the Museum at Warm Springs on the Warm Springs Reservation in Oregon.
The stone bowl and pestle shown above was used for processing foods such as seeds and berries. This was exhibited in the Museum at Warm Springs on the Warm Springs Reservation in Oregon.
The stone mortar and pestle shown above was used for grinding seeds. This was exhibited in the High Desert Museum in Bend, Oregon.
Merwyn Garbarino and Robert Sasso write:
“Women treated nuts and especially seeds by grinding them into flour which they then boiled or baked into porridge or cakes. It was this preparation that rendered the otherwise inedible seeds into digestible and nourishing food.”
The prepared flour could be stored for several months.
Shown above is a bowl made from juniper, and a stone pestle. This was used in processing foods. This was exhibited in the Museum at Warm Springs on the Warm Springs Reservation in Oregon.
Among the Owens Valley Paiute, the pine nut gathering areas were divided into family plots. Anthropologist Julian Steward, in his 1938 Bureau of American Ethnology report Basin-Plateau Aboriginal Sociopolitical Groups, writes:
“Trespass on pine-nut areas by other families, and especially by members of other bands, led to fights but not bloodshed.”
Upon completion of the harvest, some of the pine nuts would be taken back to the permanent village and some would be cached so that they could be retrieved as needed.
Seeds were also an important Paiute food source. Among the Southern Paiute, for example, seeds were gathered from at least 44 different species of grass. Among the Owens Valley Paiute, seed areas were owned by the band. Women gathered the seeds using a small, paddle-shaped basket which they would use to knock the seeds into a conical container. The seeds would then be winnowed, parched with hot coals, and ground on a flat stone. The seed flour could then be prepared as mush or used for making bread.
Ditch irrigation of wild plants was used to increase the yields among the Owens Valley Paiute. Brush dams were used to divert the water into ditches which ran for miles, and which watered multi-acre plots.
Gathering wild plants for food, fiber, and medicine was not a passive activity: Indian people often used fire to alter their environments and to enhance the productivity of the land. In an article in Idaho Yesterdays, William Tydeman reports:
“Among Northern Paiute groups, burning was practiced to encourage wild plants. In some cases, seeds were sown after fires.”
The Paiutes also hunted large game animals, such as deer, antelope, and desert bighorn sheep, and small game animals such as hares, rabbits, marmots, lizards, and porcupines. The most important small game animal was the jackrabbit. Rabbits were often driven into tall nets where they could be easily clubbed. The nets were about two feet high and were made as long as possible. The communal rabbit drives, which often lasted five days, were organized under the direction of a rabbit boss who was an elder recognized as having skill in such matters. The rabbit net would be stretched across a valley. Part of the party would then go far up the valley and drive the rabbits into the net with a great deal of whooping and hollering. The rabbits which were snared in the net were then killed with clubs.
Pronghorn antelope were an important food source in many areas. Pronghorns, however, tend to be wary and very fast, therefore it is difficult for a lone hunter to be successful. With regard to the Paiute antelope hunts, Merwyn Garbarino and Robert Sasso write:
“Communal hunts occurred every six or seven years under an antelope shaman who directed the effort to drive antelope into a surround where hunters killed them. The shaman was very important and highly respected because it was believed he or she had power to charm antelope into the trap to be killed.”
In some areas, waterfowl was also a part of the diet. Communal duck drives would be held in the marshy areas. Writing in 1859, Captain James Simpson notes of the Paiutes he has encountered near Carson Lake:
“The duck decoys they use on the lake to attract the live ducks are perfect in form and fabric.”
The concealed hunter would use the decoys to lure the birds to him.
Shown above is a duck decoy. This was exhibited in the Museum at Warm Springs on the Warm Springs Reservation in Oregon.
Among the Paiute in Nevada, fishing was an important subsistence activity. In some instances, fish would be taken with gill nets and dip nets. In his book Prehistory of the Carson Desert and Stillwater Mountains: Environment, Mobility, and Subsistence in a Great Basin Wetland, archaeologist Robert Kelly reports:
“Basketry trays could be used to scoop small fish from near the shorelines, and old burden baskets were sometimes recycled into traps and baited with minnows.”
Fish were taken throughout the year. Fish were also an important stored resource.
Basketry
One of the important aspects of Paiute material culture was basketry. Anthropologist Bertha Dutton, in her book The Ranchería, Ute, and Southern Paiute Peoples: Indians of the American Southwest, writes:
“Foremost of the Paiute arts was basketmaking, including conical baskets for carrying burdens, parching trays for roasting seeds, water jars, hats, and semi-basketry cradles for babies.”
Among the Kaibab, a Southern Paiute group, basketry was made using both coiled and twined techniques. In an article in American Indian Art, Larry Dalrymple reports:
“Sumac (Rhus trilobata) was used almost exclusively, since willow (Salix) was considered inferior.”
In the winter, the basket makers would gather the sumac which was to be used for sewing splints. The foundation rods for the baskets could be gathered at any time. Kaibab basketry had very little decoration.
Shown below are some Paiute baskets displayed in the Museum at Warm Springs on the Warm Springs Reservation in Oregon.
Shown above is a basketry water jug. It was coated with tree sap to make it waterproof.
The water jug shown above is a basket which has been coated with sap to make it waterproof. This was exhibited in the High Desert Museum in Bend, Oregon.
Wickiup
For the highly mobile Paiutes, the brush-covered hut or wikiup provided quick and temporary shelter when they needed it.
A wickiup frame is shown above. This was exhibited in the High Desert Museum in Bend, Oregon.
Shown above is the Paiute wickiup display in the Museum at Warm Springs on the Warm Springs Reservation in Oregon.
The location of camps was determined not only by food resources—plants and animals—but also by water and firewood. In her chapter in Native Americans and Wage Labor: Ethnohistorical Perspectives, Martha Knack reports:
“Base camps were made near reliable springs or along short and intermittent streams, with water carried to dry camps to enable hunting or the gathering of food plants in the desert.”
Family
Paiute families were primarily nuclear families: that is, they were composed of a man and a woman and their children. At times, there might be other people who were also a part of the household, such as a younger brother, a grandfather, a widowed aunt.
Beyond the nuclear family, people were linked by blood relationships, marriage relationships, adoptions, and friendships. These various and extensive linkages gave the nuclear family access to many different resource areas, something that was very important during times of food resource shortage in the home area.
Both boys and girls were free to engage in sexual exploration that could lead to a trial marriage. There was instruction in abortion methods as well as contraception. Divorce was simply a matter of either partner returning to their parental camp.
Sex was not restricted to marriage, nor did marriage necessarily grant exclusive sexual privileges. Sexual relations outside of marriage were not seen as threatening to the marriage.
While marriage was an important economic union, it tended to be informal and was not accompanied by any ceremony. Marriage was a personal arrangement between individuals. In other words, the couple simply started living together.
Among the Northern Paiute, a woman would sometimes marry a set of brothers – a practice called fraternal polyandry by anthropologists. This appears to be a response to sparse, scattered populations and the difficulty in finding eligible mates. There were also some instances of polyandry involving two cousins as well as unrelated males. While polyandry usually involved two males, there were a few instances of polyandry with three males.
Polyandry was often fraternal and temporary. According to Julian Steward:
“A woman married the oldest brother first, then, if she liked a younger brother, took him into the household and allowed him sex privileges.”
At a later time, the younger brother would acquire his own wife, preferably a sister to his polyandrous wife.
Government
With the harsh nature of the environment, Paiute bands tended to be small – rarely larger than 30 people in the desert areas and up to 100 in other areas – and they usually used places near water sources for their residential sites. Band names tended to reflect geography: that is, bands were often named for the area which they inhabited. Julian Steward reports:
“The functional basis of band organization, then, was the habitual cooperation of its members in joint enterprises and its objective expression was the common name, chieftainship, and ownership of territory.”
Villages were independent political units, but they were sometimes allied with each other to form larger bands.
Band membership tended to be fluid. While many of the band members were related to each other by blood or by marriage, people were free to leave one band and join another. Band leadership was not autocratic, and members were free to pursue an independent course when they so desired. In an article in American Antiquity, Angus Quinlan and Alanah Woody write:
“One limiting factor of chiefly authority was the freedom of band members to switch allegiance to other bands or family clusters.”
The traditional Paiute leader was called niave. In their chapter in A History of Utah’s American Indians, Gary Tom and Ronald Holt report:
“He would be identified by each community to lead by example and through a search for consensus. Although such a ‘chief’ was not a decision-maker, he would offer advice and suggestions at council meetings and would later work to carry out the council’s decisions as well as other prescribed duties.”
Writing about the northern Paiute, archaeologist Luther Cressman, in his book The Sandal and the Cave: The Indians of Oregon, notes that they did not have permanent chiefs:
“A leader was chosen to organize community activity, such as an antelope hunt, but his authority ended with the close of the hunt.”
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