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 ~400,000 sq mi (1,000,000 km ). There is very little precipitation in the Great Basin area which affects the lifestyles and cultures of the inhabitants.
20-611: The Chemehuevi ( / ˌ tʃ ɛ m ɪ ˈ w eɪ v i / CHEH -mih- WAY -vee ) are an indigenous people of the Great Basin . They are the southernmost branch of Southern Paiute . Today, Chemehuevi people are enrolled in the following federally recognized tribes : Some Chemehuevi are also part of the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians , whose members are mostly Sovovatum or Soboba band members of Cahuilla and Luiseño people . "Chemehuevi" has multiple interpretations. It
40-496: A linguist and ethnographer, wrote a comprehensive account of the culture and language as George Laird remembered it, and published their collaborative efforts in her 1976 The Chemehuevis , the first – and, to date, only – ethnography of the Chemehuevi traditional culture. Describing the Chemehuevi as she knew them, and presenting the texture of traditional life amongst the people, Carobeth Laird writes: The Chemehuevi character
60-476: A three-rod foundation of willow. Traditionally, the majority of weaving was completed with split willow, and darker patterns were made with devil's claw and yucca, among other materials. This traditional style of basketmaking is currently practiced by a small group of weavers. Estimates for the pre-contact populations of most native groups in California have varied substantially. Alfred L. Kroeber estimated
80-477: Is considered to either be a Mojave term meaning "those who play with fish;" or a Quechan word meaning "nose-in-the-air-like-a- roadrunner ." The Chemehuevi call themselves Nüwüvi ("The People", singular Nüwü ) or Tantáwats , meaning "Southern Men." Alternate spellings of Chemehuevi include Chemeguab and Chemegueb. Their language, Chemehuevi, is a Colorado River Numic language , in the Numic language branch of
100-596: Is made up of polarities which are complementary rather than contradictory. They are loquacious yet capable of silence; gregarious yet so close to the earth that single families or even men alone might live and travel for long periods away from other human beings; proud, yet capable of a gentle self-ridicule. They are conservative to a degree, yet insatiably curious and ready to inquire into and even to adopt new ways: to visit all tribes, whether friends or enemies; to speak strange tongues, sing strange songs, and marry strange wives. The Chemehuevi made intricately coiled baskets using
120-706: 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. In 1930, the Ely Shoshone Reservation was established, followed by the Duckwater Indian Reservation in 1940. Conditions for the Native American population of
140-624: The San Bernardino and San Gabriel Mountains in the south. They are most closely identified as among the Great Basin Indians . Among others they are cousins of the Kawaiisu . The most comprehensive collection of Chemehuevi history, culture and mythology was gathered by Carobeth Laird (1895–1983) and her second husband, George Laird, one of the last Chemehuevi to have been raised in the traditional culture. Carobeth Laird,
160-520: The Uto-Aztecan language family. First transcribed by John P. Harrington and Carobeth Laird in the early 20th century, it was studied in the 1970s by linguist Margaret L. Press. whose field notes and extensive sound recordings remain available. The language is now near extinction; during the filming of Ironbound Films ' 2008 American documentary film The Linguists , linguists Greg Anderson and K. David Harrison interviewed and recorded one of
180-621: The 1975 passage of the Indian Self-determination and Education Assistance Act , has enabled Great Basin tribes to develop economic opportunities for their members. 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
200-463: 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
220-777: The Chemehuevi Valley along the Colorado River in California . They were a nomadic people living in small groups given the sparse resources available in the desert environment. Carobeth Laird indicates their traditional territory spanned the High Desert from the Colorado River on the east to the Tehachapi Mountains on the west and from the Las Vegas area and Death Valley on the north to
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#1732771988739240-534: 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 . 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
260-525: 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 continue to struggle against chronic poverty and all of the resulting problems: unemployment ; substance abuse ; and high suicide rates. Today self-determination , beginning with
280-663: The Great Basin. Near the banks of Winnemucca Lake in Nevada, this rock art dates between 10,500 and 14,800 years ago. 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
300-552: The combined 1770 population of the Chemehuevi, Koso , and Kawaiisu as 1,500. The combined estimate in 1910 dropped to 500. An Indian agent reported the Chemehuevi population in 1875 to be 350. Kroeber estimated U.S. census data put the Chemehuevi population in 1910 as 355. Population as of 2016 is in the thousands. Indigenous people of the Great Basin The oldest known petroglyphs in North America are in
320-678: The last 3 remaining speakers. In 2015, the Siwavaats Junior College in Havasu Lake, California , was established to teach children the language. A Chemehuevi dictionary with 2,500 words was expected to become available in 2016. The Chemehuevi were originally a desert tribe among the Southern Paiute group. Post-contact, they lived primarily in the eastern Mojave Desert and later Cottonwood Island in Nevada and
340-508: The native population. The Goshute Reservation was created in 1863. 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
360-643: The region around the 14th century CE. 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
380-461: 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,
400-503: 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
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