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I. Indians of the Great Basin The Great Basin is a desert region in the American West in which Native American peoples developed a distinct culture attuned in sophisticated ways to their desert ecosystem, a culture necessitated by the precarious nature of their environment. The Great Basin culture area lies between the Rocky Mountains in the east, and the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Range in the west. It covers the states of Nevada and Utah, western Colorado and western Wyoming, southern Idaho, and smaller areas of the adjacent states of Oregon, California, Arizona and New Mexico. The Great Basin culture area is characterized by semi-desert and desert flatlands, dissected by mountain chains. The region has the lowest rainfall and highest evaporation rate in the United States, and the resulting aridity has characterized the flora and fauna. Vegetation is sparse, and is dominated by a variety of drought-resistant grasses, sagebrush, cacti and succulents. Mountains are clad in juniper, piņon, scrub oak, pine, aspen, spruce and fir, depending on elevation. Typical animals of the Great Basin are a variety of reptiles, notably snakes and lizards; rodents, including mice, rats and squirrels; and hares and rabbits in some abundance. Pronghorn antelope, elk, bighorn sheep and mule deer were the largest mammals to be found there, although in small numbers. Other animal species of the Great Basin include mountain lions, coyotes and foxes.
Due to the relative paucity of food resources in the Great Basin, their limited productivity, and a seasonal harvest cycle, the number of Native Americans inhabiting this region was always low. The Indians who made it their homeland developed a nomadic lifestyle to exploit available food resources periodically, living and travelling in small groups, often as single families. All possible sources of food in the harsh desert environment needed to be exploited for survival. The men were the hunters, and the women gatherers of plant foods, although both sexes assisted each other when this was required. Hunters used bows, arrows, spears, clubs, nets and snares, and the men went after antelope, rodents, hares and rabbits, and reptiles. Communal hunts were organized to capture antelope and rabbits. Streams and lakes were sources of fish, turtles and ducks provided they did not dry up. The women were adept at weaving baskets in a large variety of forms and sizes, used for collecting, preparing, serving and storing food. With the help of digging sticks they unearthed roots, bulbs and tubers. Plant foods harvested in a seasonal cycle included roots, bulbs, cactus fruit, agave stalks, the seeds of mesquite, and a great variety of grasses, and nuts, especially piņons. Seeds and nuts were parched and ground into flour from which porridge and cakes were made, the latter for underground storage, packed in skin bags. Caterpillars, grasshoppers, cicadas, fly and moth larvae, and ant eggs contributed to the diet. Groups of families formed a band and exploited the resources in their territory. Often they assembled in wintertime into a larger settlement, from which they went out on hunting and gathering expeditions, led by experienced men. Seeds, berries and nuts collected and stored over the summer and fall, provided necessary nutrition during the cold season, in addition to the prey caught in the hunt. On these occasions they lived in "wickiups", conical or dome-shaped huts, covered with brush, mats or bark. In the spring the people dispersed and travelled in nuclear or extended families, exploiting all available food resources. They built temporary wind and sun screens to shield themselves against the elements. Caves and rock shelters also provided protection. Men and women dressed in simple clothing, made from animal hides and skins, shredded bark and plant fibres. Rabbit-fur blankets provided protection against the cold. Women wove basketry hats for both sexes. Religious leadership was provided by shamans who cured the sick in healing rituals, and tried to influence the outcome of communal hunts by appealing to the spirits. Those appearing in dreams were regarded as sources of individual personal power. In sweat huts Indians periodically purified themselves, physically and mentally. Most of the Indians encountered by the first explorers and settlers in the Great Basin spoke languages belonging to the Uto-Aztecan family: Paiutes, including Bannocks and Chemehuevis, Utes, Shoshones and Kawaiisu. The relation of the language of the Washoes has not yet been satisfactorily established, although a Hokan source is most likely. Until the arrival of the white man, the culture of the Native Americans of the Great Basin remained relatively unchanged from the establishment of a general Desert Archaic Culture about 8.000 years B.C. However, the presence of man might be much older in this region, and may date back to Paleo-Indian times, as for example at Fort Rock Cave in southern Idaho. Archeological research focussed on this issue continues. [1]
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