Some notes on ethnographic subsistence systems in Mojavean environments in the Great Basin

19 Pages·1995·11.6 MB·English

by  Catherine S Fowler

Summer
Ethnobiol 15(1):99-117
1995
/.
ON
SOME
NOTES
ETHNOGRAPHIC
SUBSISTENCE SYSTEMS
MOJAVEAN ENVIRONMENTS THE GREAT
IN BASIN
IN
CATHERINE FOWLER
S.
Department
Anthropolog}/
of
Reno
University Nevada,
of
NV
89557
Reno,
—
ABSTRACT. Subsistence resources utilized by Southern Paiute and Shoshone
Moj
discussed
the ethnographic literature. In the 1930s, Isabel Kelly worked with a number of
un
some additional data, help to outline their subsistence systems. Recent studies
among
the Timbisha or Death Valley Shoshone also elucidate aspects of their
number
subsistence Although these groups share a of subsistence aspects
cycles.
with their linguistic kinsmen in the Great Basin Desert to the north, they also
developed some unique based on certain locally occurring resources such as
foci
The
legumes, agaves, and yuccas, as well as tortoises, and chuckwallas. spread of
garden horticulture into the eastern part of the region prior to the mid-17005
mi
dry
this area.
RESUMEN
por
Sureno y Shoshone del Desierto Mojave del occidente de Norteamerica hacia el
perturbacion
CO discutid(
un
niimero
ayudan esbozar su
de campo como algunos datos adicionales, a
ineditas, asi
Shoshone
Timbisha, o de
sistemas de subsistencia. Estudios recientes entre los
VaUe de Muerte, esclarecen tambien algunos aspectos de sus ciclos de subsis
la
un buen numero de aspectos de subsis
tencia. Si bien estos grupos comparten la
Gran Cuenca
de hacia e
tencia con sus parientes lingiiisticos en el Desierto la
en
basados cierto
tambien algunos focos particulares
norte, desarrollaron
como
recursos de distribucion como leguminosas, agaves y yucas, asi tor
local,
de
tugas La expansi6n de horticultura a la porcion oriental L
y lagartijas. la
un margen impor
probablemente agrego
region antes de mediar siglo XVIII
el
tante sistemas indigenas de subsistencia en esta area arida.
a los
Sud Shoshone
RESUME.— de
par peuples Paiute et
Les ressources utilisees les
aux abords des
du Nord
dans du Mojave d'Amerique occidentale,
desert
le
de derangement de leurs moeurs,
annees periode de contact important et
1840,
Pendant annees 1830, Isabel
figurent peu dans ethnographique. les
literature
la
un nombre de groupes
des recherches dans
?lly fit I
que donnees
ses notes nonoubliees, ainsi d'autres
Death
FOWLER
No.
100 Vol. 15, 1
de
Valley servent egalement a elucider certains aspects de leurs cycles subsis-
de subsistance avec
Bien que groupes partagent plusieurs aspects leur
tance. ces
du du Great Basin au Nord,ils ont egalement
leurs parents linguistiques desert
que
developpe certaines specialisations d'apres les ressources locales telles les
Le
feculents, Tagave et le yucca, ainsi que les tortues et les chuckwallas, deploie-
- «
du
ment de rhorticulure vers Test de region avant la moitie 18^ '"^ siecle
la
une marge importante aux moyens de subsistance indi-
contribua certainement
genes dans region
cette aride.
INTRODUCTION
North
western
Ethnographic subsistence systems for the Great Basin of
on
America have been defined in the past largely as focused cold desert resources.
much Great
with groups the
This because of the published field v^ork deals in
is
Chamber-
and example,
regime
Basin Desert, a relatively high, arid, cold (see, for
Un Fowler Smith Steward 1933, 1938,
1911; 1986, 1989, 1992; Kelly 1932, 1964; 1974;
Zigmond However,
Shimkin a signifi-
Stewart
1941, 1943; 1941, 1942; 1947; 1981).
and
number
cant of the native peoples of the Great Basin culture area lived in
Mojave Desert
depended upon
the resources of hot deserts, particularly the
and warmer groups in the
(Fig. a lower, dryer, regime.^ In historic times,
1),
Vegas,
Mojave Desert included several subgroups of the Southern Paiute (Las
(Death Val-
Pahrump, Moapa, Shivwdts, George, Chemehuevi), the Timbisha
St.
Non-
Panamint and Koso and some Kawaiisu.
Shoshone, adjacent
ley), Valley,
whom
and with
Great Basin non-Numic-speaking) groups desert
(or also in this
Great Basin peoples shared much terms of subsistence and other features of
in
some
and
among Mohave,
adaptation included, others, the Cahuilla, Serrano,
Walapai subgroups. By focusing subsistence around floral and faunal species
common on
certain
to both the Great Basin and the Mojave deserts, but also
and
key Mojavean and tortoises
resources legumes, agaves, yuccas; desert
(e.g.,
seeming
chuckwallas), of these groups learned to cope with the Mojave's
all
natu-
some supplemented these
harshness. In historic times, of these groups also
rally occurring products with several derived from garden horticulture.
com-
paper on and subsistence
In this data the distribution character of the
Great
on the
plexes focused the uniquely Mojavean resources are discussed for
among
What known gardening
Basin groups. and importance of
of the history
is
unpublished
them
also reviewed. Sources for these data include the extensive
is
data for
notes of Isabel Kelly (1932-34) for the Southern Paiute,^ the author's field
Tim-
and the
Southern Paiute in the Mojave Desert (Fowler 1986-1990) for
1968,
mate-
bisha or Death Valley Shoshone (Fowler 1992-1993), and certain published
Irwin
BeU and
rials (e.g., Castetter 1937, 1941; Castetter et al 1938; Coville 1892;
Zigmond
1980; Laird 1976; Schroth 1987; Steward 1938; Stuart 1945; Wallace 1980;
Mojavean
1981). Unfortunately since of these data were gathered long after
all
more of
subsistence systems ceased to function in their entirety, the data suggest
use of
the "what" and "how" than of the "how much" and "how often" of the
occa-
are
these resources. Statements of consultants regarding these other aspects
now
sionally included, but cannot be
verified.
Summer JOURNAL OF ETHNOBIOLOGY
1995
101
1.— Mojave Desert environments.
FIG. Great Basin Tribes in
FLORAL RESOURCES
applied
has been previously
The com The term mesqu complex
mesauite
ite
mem-
making
and edible certain
to the procedures involved in gathering
series'of
glandulosa
honey mesquite (Prosopis
bers of the Fabaceae, includmg primarily
and screwbean (P pubescens Benth.;
Benson] M.C. Johnston)
Torr. var. torreyana
[L.
see Bean and Saubel 1972: Fowler 1986:67; Schroth 1987). These, as well as certain
FOWLER
102 No.
Vol.
15, 1
members
Other of the family Acacia spp.), are important components of the
(e.g..
Mojavean
flora as well as that of the adjacent Sonoran Desert. They were likewise
important in the diets of Southern Paiute and Shoshone peoples (but not
Kawaiisu [Zigmond some
1981:54]), in local areas replacing the all-important
pinyon and
/or acorn, or standing equal them. today
at least to difficult to
It is
judge the former distribution, and especially the density and productivity of
many
mesquite groves properly as have succumbed drought brought on by the
to
tapping groundwater mod-
of resources to salve the seemingly insatiable thirst of
ern Mojave Desert dwellers. However, seem once have
their focal distributions to
been most of the drainage patterns throughout the Mojave (Benson and Darrow
Screw beans were more where
1981). of limited occurrence, but equally favored
found.
mesquite Timbisha
(called ohbi in
Paiute) were used slightly differently by Shoshone and Southern Paiute people,
Among
with among
additional differences probably occurring the Tim-
families.
was made when
use pods were
in the spring the
were on with
pit-roasted a laver of hot stones,
bein
1934:LVI:99;M:44;CI:40;SG:23) did not report this use among the Southern Paiute.
However, Moapa and Pahrump
the Southern Timbisha
Paiute as well as the
—
Shoshone
ate the green pods raw as snacks at a slightly later stage after the
had
seeds formed. For this purpose people with several mesauite eroves or trees
sam
from
from
1986-1990;
1992-1993).
More
elaborate processing attended the taking of mesquite later in the season,
pods had begun
after the to ripen or had dried. * Southern Paiute people collected
ripened but green pods from pounded them pulp in
still the trees, then into a
stone mortars with They made pulp
stone from
pestles. a drink the resulting
(Kelly 1932-1934:LVI:99;M:44;CI:40). The Timbisha and Panamint Shoshone peo-
had
ple apparently waited and
a pods had turned yellow
until the
little later,
begun
to drop from the trees. They pounded the moist pods in large tree-
still
stump
mortars made
(Fig. 2)5 with cylindrical stone pestles and also a juice.
from
the remaining
much
mixture would make them drowsy
(Fowler
me
made
use
of
made
from
fully ripened As
fruit. a first step, ^.^^^ „^.^
i..^
....
remove
all remaining moisture. They were then pounded into a fine pov
(principally the mesocarp), and
a process that took considerable time strei
given
the toughness of the exocarp and the endocarp surrounding the
;
within a pod. The meal was remove
further sifted in an open-twined tray to
ungroimd
material, especially the endocarp and The Timbisha Shosl
seeds.7
then
set aside both types meal
of material be used prepare cakej
to to large
storage.
The
Timbisha
Shoshone
apparently prepared storage in
cakes
their for
winnowing
while Moapa
trays, bu]
at least the Southern Paiute used conical
Summer JOURNAL OF ETHNOBIOLOGY
1995
103
—
FIG. Mesquite bean mortar collected in
2.
CA,
Saline Valley, in 1959 (Eastern California
Museum,
Independence, A850; 32 cm).
baskets The Tmibisha people lined a winnowing tray with the
(Stuart 1945). first
was
The meal
from pounding material called kahimbi.
fiber retained the process,
between
then formed on with water being sprinkled the layers
into a cake the
tray,
was
much more then
to help them pack more The cake, as as a foot or high,
tightly.
The
covered with an additional layer of kahimbi, wetted to form a crust. cake, called
removed from and cached in a grass-lined
pigibi, could then be sun-dried, the h-ay,
pit (Fowler 1992-1993). The Moapa Southern Paiute built their cakes either in coni-
pod
burden dug shape and lined with mesquite
cal baskets, or in a small hole to
much few
After a
pulp (Kelly 1932-1934:M:44). Their cakes were as as 2 feet thick.
days, the baskets were inverted and the large cones of meal left to dry further; or
same purpose. The cones and cakes
the cakes were removed from the pits for the
under-
were or caves, or in
then stored in grass- or bark-lined pits in rockshelters
ground on Both groups kept a cone or cake in the
pits bluffs or ridges (Stuart 1945).
or
house and removed and them without further preparation,
people pieces ate
meal
added them water The Moapa people also stirred dried mesquite
to for juice.
were
These
into cooked agave and made the resulting mixture into small cakes.
camp
suitable for the or for meals in (Stuart 1945).
trail
FOWLER
No.
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104 15, 1
1^
-'
^^.xrjx n^^x^ ^—
—
UT.
FIG. Screwbean near George,
3. {Prosopis pubescens Benth.) St.
was
consid-
Dried pods were often stored and processed although there
later,
common
danger damage was The predator
erable of insect storage prolonged.
if
bruchid larvae that eat the seed and the mesocarp, and then pupate within the
is
pod emerge (some over-
(Kingsolver et 1977:110f Processing before the larvae
al.
).
who
winter in the pod) was favored by the Timbisha people, recognized their
with arrow-
value as food. They cached mesquite pods in subterranean pits lined
near
weed
(Pluchea sericea [Nutt.] Coville) and capped with earth at valley sites
A
containing
Furnace Creek before moving to the mountains for the summer.^ site
1992
such a cache was excavated Breakfast Canyon near Furnace Creek in
in
upon
their
(Yohe and Valdez 1993). The beans were then processed in the fall
return (Fowler
1992-1993).
some family
Moapa
Kelly (1932-1934:M:44) reports the Southern Paiute
for
mentioned
ownership of mesquite groves near The same not
cultivated fields. is
knew
that
for Las Vegas, Pahrump, or Chemehuevi groups, although the latter it
was Mohave family
a custom (KeUy Steward reports
1932-1934:CI:40). (1938:183)
and
Shoshone
ownership Ash Meadows, by
of groves an occupied
in area
jointly
mesquite
Southern Paiute people. Tunbisha people more possessive about the
felt
home surplus.
Furnace
at Creek, their district, but were willing to trade their
KeUy was was and utilized at St.
(1932-1934:SG:23) mesquite
told that rare little
reviews
George, and from
absent the original Shivwits Schroth (1987)
district.
Basm
concepts ownership among non-Great
of
as well as other
distributions
Mojave
Desert
dwellers.
were
Screwbeans common mesquite
(Fig.* although not nearly as as
3),
their
important and by them in
favored all of the people fortunate enough to have
Summer JOURNAL OF ETHNOBIOLOGY
1995
105
According Kelly Las Vegas and
districts. to (1932-1934:LVI:100;CI:41X for the
Pahrump
Southern Paiute and the Chemehuevi, processing of these involved an
—
additional step pit ripening. Once the screwbeans had been obtained, they were
placed in layers in an arrowweed-lined water being sprinkled between the
pit,
A
man down
tamp The was
layers. stood in the pit to the pods. pit then covered
When
with more arrow weed and a clay cap and allowed to for about a month.
sit
—
was
the pit opened, the screwbeans had changed color from tan to red. They
were then removed and placed in storage granaries or processed into meal using a
stone mortar.
Screwbeans have very hard seeds, most of which are not easily ground
tiny,
except by special attention. According to Kelly (1932-1934;LVI:100), the Las Vegas
and Pahrump people removed the seeds from the mortared meal mixture by
tapping them edge winnowing The seeds could then be ground on
to the of a tray.
a metate and made into additional meal. Most people apparently preferred to mix
the ground seed with water make a drink. The pod meal of screwbeans could
to
made mes-
be eaten prepared as a drink, or into dried cakes similar to those of
Ripened screwbeans were widely traded, especially within Southern Paiute
quite.
"Many
territory. Kelly (1932-1934:LVI 100) states: used to trade rabbitskin blanket.
sheep anything
hide, eagle feathers, sinew,
Moj
Kroeber
universal the area (Bean and Saubel 1972) nor function fully understood.
to is its
Moapa and
Tmibisha
people, the
Kelly (1932-1934:M:44) does not report for the
it
Shoshone have not heard that was necessary. In the tree-ripened state (usually
it
when
by Perhaps pit-ripening hastens
screwbeans have sweet raw.^
a flavor
fall),
may but
fermentation,
the process or enhances the flavor. also cause a slight
It
who
had screwbeans within
such Whatever those their
not the
reported. effect,
is
areas seem have made good use of them, and, they had enough to trade, they
to if
could good
exact
prices.
—
The agave complex. Like mesquite and screwbean, agaves are primarily con-
but
southern Great Basin, also
fined the Mojave and Sonoran deserts in the
to
Common
Mojave Desert
have broader distributions south of that. species in the
and Agave
(Chemehuevi only) utahensis
include Agave Engehn. territory
deserti
and
Engelm. var nevadensis Engelm., A. utahensis ssp.
A. utahensis
ssp. utahensis,
found
scattered
kaibabensis (McKelvey) Gentry. Agave utahensis varieties are in
Southern
Mojave Desert (principally
distributions mid-level elevations in the
at
higher elevations
occurring
at
Paiute with A. utahensis ssp. kaibabensis
territory),
Grand Canyon through the territory of
and
extending along the north rim of the
many
where found, shares
the Kaibab Southern The agave complex, is
Paiute. it
features with complexes in the Southwest and Mexico (Castetter et al. 1938).
like
South-
the
According KeUy (1932-1934:LVI:94-5;CI:37-9;SH:30;SG:22), for
to
began
in the early
ern Paiute and Chemehuevi, processing of agave {yanti, nanti)
with of plants just
spring (February March, depending on elevation) collection
or
from roots
as they were sending up flower The plants were severed their
stalks.
The were
leaves
using a chisel-shaped wooden wedge and a special knife (Fig. 4).
and agaves
the
trimmed base with the knife
often within or 2 inches of the
to 1
A
was
pack frames. large pit
returned to a central processing location in special
FOWLER
106
No.
Vol.
15, 1
4.—Agave
FIG.
knife with metal blade, collected Moapa, NV,
at
Museum
American
of the
Indian, 16/ 4059; 29 cm).
md
a fire built in After the died down, rocks v
it. fu-e
family placed
agaves More
its in a section of the
pit.
time
and
singing dancing
took
place. Prohibitions were
also in effect to insi
baking. was
After the pit opened, the sweet, dark mass, and any par
still
was
removed by
hearts, each family and pounded, and formed
cooled,
ii
cakes drying and
flat for storage. Portions were also eaten fresh out o
Agave was
mixed
with made
other types meal meats and
of or into
st€
According
Kelly
to
(1932-1934:CI:38;LVI:94;M:34;SH:30), the spring
and
ing cooking
of agave, especially by the Shivwits, Moapa, Las Ve
Pahrump
Southern and by
Paiute the Chemehuevi, was under
the direc
male
or female dpnpnHpH nn cnnprx
specialist fsPX ar^a^ TViic T^^rcr«n
sometimes
There no
are data indicating agave were family
that collecting areas
owned
Timbisha
Panamint
seem
(Zigmond
The
yucca complex .—There Mojave
are several species of yuccas found in the
one
ert, of the most
characteristic being the Joshua {Yucca brevifolia
tree
elm.). All groups with Timbisha
Joshua
trees (Southern Paiute tsoadtmpi;
shone
muupi) made the
in their
territories similar uses of them, especially in
At
ng. new
that time the growth flowering
tips containing what will be the
and
fruiting heads
were
(Fig. 5) carefully twisted from the ends of the stalks
roasted
in coals (CoviUe were cut
1892:355). sharp spines remained, these
If
and bud was
the much
flower
y eaten Uke an
to
artichoke. Joshua trees left
Summer JOURNAL OF ETHNOBIOLOGY
1995
107
FIG. 5.—Joshua tree (Yucca hrevifoUa Engelm.) with growth tips ready to
harvest.
emerged—
had blossoms harvested as they these, too, being pit-roasted.
their
and groups
Those had although not people
left to fruit the fruit collected, all
paki)
Paiute did
not.
commonly Roezl ex Ortgies
including Yucca schidigera
Ke
and
Tnrr favorpd
for fruit stalks.
n/^j \Mf^ri^ fllinn
among Las Vegas Southern
use the
1934:LVI:97) reports an interesting process in
stem containmg
the
Paiute to hasten ripening of Yucca schidigera iuwimpi) fruits:
be speeded
them was from Ripening could also
broken but not severed the plant.
covered with
pit
under ashes or roasted
removed. They were then buried
ids
ff
mashed
and
were like
being they boiled "jiist
in storage,
and sometimes
and
were seeded, dried,
fruits split,
was
The product
formed pounded resulting set
baUs flattened sheets.
into or into
The
sheets
out on mats dry sun (KeUy 1932-1934:CI:44;SH:39;SG:21).
to in the
and with bark for caching in
were covered
later carefully folded for storage
made
and
ground flour
The were then into
rockshelters or juniper sheets
in trees.
and
mush The newly emerging stalks
mto (KeUy
Uke agave 1932-34).
or loaves
but
were eaten,
Engehn. ex
blossoms of narrow-leafed yucca angustissima Trel.)
(Y.
Zigmond
and dry (Fowler 1986-1990).
not was
the considered too bitter
fruit.
It
much
// // like
hearts
treated
ceremony
groups with
treated agave,
green
The Kawaiisu roasted the spht,
also
sting of this species in the spring.
seem have used
but not
stalks, to
FOWLER
No.
Vol.
15, 1
108
most
Although ethnobotanies are lacking for
Other resources.— definitive
floral
Great Basin Mojave Desert dwellers, several combined sources document, in addi-
among more
food
use these peoples for of
already described, the
tion to the plants
than 20 genera produced seeds {Sporobolus, Descurainia, Suaeda, Poa, Atriplex,
that
Mentzelia
Oryzopsis,
Allenrolfea,
greens
among few roots/corms
a
M.E. several fruits {h/cium, Opuntia, others),
Jones),
Allium
Dichelostemma pulchellum Heller,
Calochortus kennedyi Porter, [Salisb.]
(i.e.,
&
Frem
pinyon {Pinus monophylla Torr.
Q
and
Engelm.) scrub oaks (Q
;M
Irwin
Zigmond
9;CI:30-2;SG25-6; Wilke
et 1979).
al.
number non-Moja
Kawaiisu, including a of
among
food
ghly 75 species utilized for
Mojave
within the Desert.^^
oily
Moja
complexes the
in their entirety, the floral of
em more
as those of the
umes
me
some unique The Tlmbisha Shoshone rank
features-
Moapa
The
equal to pinyon in their plant subsistence system (Fowler 1992-1993).
did
much more and agave than they
Southern Paiute stored as not mesquite
if
—
1986-1990;
pine nuts and berries which were sometimes hard to get (Fowler
agave
went
Whole camps Chemehuevi people after
Kelly 1932-1934:M:47). of
(1932-
each year, so much so that the river camps were nearly deserted, Kelly
mes-
when people gathering
"Could from
1934:ChI:38) great distance
states:
tell
groups set
could see on the mountains/' Thus, the use of these plant
cal; fires all
them
somewhat kinsmen, giving
the southern groups apart from their northern
poor
upon which depend good In years, all
additional storable staples to in years.
groups
FAUNAL RESOURCES
—
faunal
Mammals Mojave Desert
and reptiles. Just as with floral resources, the
(1932-1934.
community
According Kelly
fostered certain specializations. to
came
protein
LVI:108) for the Southern Paiute, more of the day-to-day animal
or
deer
wood from
from and chuckwallas than did
rabbits, rats, tortoises,
it
nelsont
bighorn Of
sheep. the two, desert bighorns (Ovis canadensis ssp.
latter
Some
Merriam) were the more common, being found most Mojavean areas.
in
of
Southern Paiute groups, on the other hand, had to go into the adjacent territory
an
more than
the Tunbisha (Death Valley) Shoshone or Cahuilla in order to take
they
wanted hides,
occasional deer (Odocoileus hemionus Rafinesaue). thev
If
communal
Tganized
mountams
Timbisha people considered deer rare in
on
surrounding central Death Valley, noting that they were taken only the
side of the Panamint Range.
Bighorn sheep and deer were more commonly hunted by individuals
—
men dreamer
small groups of under the direction of a dreamer a different