Kathryn Fields
Eng 246: Native American
Literature
Nation Study Notes: Piutes
Location/ History:
The Great Basin,
which consists
mostly of Nevada as well as pieces of
southern
Oregon, western Utah,
a little northeast and more of the southeast parts of California, was
the original home of what
some would call Paleo-Indians. These Indians, from 10,000 years ago,
are now
divided into four contemporary tribes, of which the North and South
Piutes
(also spelled Paiutes) are two. The
Piutes were some of the original peoples in the area of the Great
Basin, but
beginning in the 1770’s Spanish explorers began coming near the area
and by the
mid 1800’s Mormons settled in the area. Then European explorers that
were
working their way toward California
started
crossing through Nevada
and soon the area was consumed by people claiming land and forcing
natives to
move to reservations. At the time the natives were looked down upon as
inferior. Historically, there where few recorded attempts to really
understand
the native people by the explorers. The native population declined
greatly due
to murders, diseases, and loss of natural habitat. But some have
survived, and
as of the late 1990’s there are still Piute tribes located in
the areas
of Utah, Nevada,
and California.
Language:
There are
traditionally seven Numic languages spoken by Native Americans in the
areas of Nevada, Utah, and
portions of California, Oregon,
Idaho, Wyoming,
Arizona,
and Colorado.
These seven are broken into three groups called Western Numic, Central
Numic
and Southern Numic. The Northern
Piutes speak
the Northern Piute Language, which is more closely related to other
Western
Numic languages than to the Southern Piute language, which is
considered a Southern Numic language.
Culture (clothing,
housing and food):
All
human
being need three essential things to survive and the Piutes are no
different.
Studying their clothing, housing and food sources helps us learn about
their
environment and daily lives.
The climate
in the area was usually dry, and when precipitation did come, it was
generally
in the form of snow in the winter months. The resources of the area did
not
allow for much clothing, so most of the year the people of the Great Basin, including the Piutes, had very
little in the
way of clothing. When the need arose for warmer clothing, a rabbit
skin/fur
cape was made.
The usual
housing was called a tule hut , which was made from brush or grass and
had a
framework of flexible willow branches. The hut or wickiup was made
stable by
encircling the base with rocks. CONTENTdm
Collection : Item Viewer (Click link
to see a typical Piute hut.) In the colder months a more substantial
and more
permanent structure was utilized.
The Piutes
were mainly hunter/gatherers. They used bow and arrow hunting as well
as
trapping to secure meat. The meat was generally dried for preservation.
The
southern Piutes grew corn, and the northern Piutes had fish more
available and
so were fisherman. The women gathered plant materials, roots, seeds,
berries
and pine nuts. The pine nuts required ingenious processing, as to
harvest the
nuts at the right time and well enough to benefit the whole group. The
men of
the Piutes hunted and the women completed most of the gathering and
manufacturing of the plant products.
Basket weaving was
utilized for
many different purposes. http://www.britannica.com/eb/art-85130/A-photograph-from-the-early-1900s-shows-a-Paiute-woman
(Click link to see a Piute woman weaving.)
The Piutes
have always been and remain a unique part of the American people and
its landscape.
In their language, technologies, and lifestyle we see that they are a
distinctive culture of people who deserve a closer look.
Bibliography
1. Indians of the Great Basin
http://www4.hmc.edu:8001/humanities/basin/gb-matrl.htm
© 1996 by: Tad
Beckman, Harvey
Mudd College
2. Multicultural America
http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Le-Pa/Paiutes.html
by Richard C. Hanes
and Laurie
Collier Hillstrom
3. Encyclopedia
Britannica
http://www.britannica.com/
4. Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paiute