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what was the shoshone way of life

by Karli Aufderhar Published 3 years ago Updated 2 years ago
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The Shoshone people were very mobile and skilled at hunting and gathering, and with each change of the season they migrated to obtain the food and other resources they depended on to survive. In the early autumn, the Northwestern Shoshones moved into the region near what is now Salmon, Idaho, to fish.

The Indians that lived east and up north of the Rocky Mountains lived in tepees and hunted buffalo. When the Shoshone were actually in the mountains they lived on roots, berries, and infrequently, fish and small game. The Shoshone usually lived in small groups of ten people or less.

Full Answer

What did the Shoshone people do?

In the early autumn, the Northwestern Shoshones moved into the region near what is now Salmon, Idaho, to fish. After fishing was over, they moved into western Wyoming to hunt buffalo, elk, deer, moose, and antelope. They sun-dried the meat for winter and used the hides as clothing and shelter.

What did the Shoshone tribe live in?

Shoshone, also spelled Shoshoni; also called Snake, North American Indian group that occupied the territory from what is now southeastern California across central and eastern Nevada and northwestern Utah into southern Idaho and western Wyoming.

What was unique about the Shoshone tribe?

The Eastern Shoshone are known for their Plains horse culture. They acquired the horse in 1700 and it completely changed their lifestyles. They became proficient hunters thus they became fierce warriors.

What did the Shoshone tribe sleep in?

The Eastern and Northern Shoshones lived in the tall, cone-shaped buffalo-hide houses known as tipis (or teepees). Since the Shoshone tribe moved frequently as they gathered food, a tipi had to be carefully designed to set up and break down quickly, like a modern tent.

What was the Shoshone society like?

The Shoshone were a peaceful people, trading with mountain men and fur trappers, but they adopted a war-like attitude following a series of events that happened to them. First, the United States government signed a treaty with Shoshone people for peace, but the United States government did not keep the treaty.

Was the Shoshone tribe friendly?

The Shoshones at first were friendly to white settlers along the Oregon and California trails in the 1840s.

What did the Shoshone call themselves?

NeweShoshones call themselves Newe, meaning "People". Meriwether Lewis recorded the tribe as the "Sosonees or snake Indians" in 1805.

What language did the Shoshone speak?

Shoshoni, also written as Shoshoni-Gosiute and Shoshone (/ʃoʊˈʃoʊni/; Shoshoni: soni' ta̲i̲kwappe, newe ta̲i̲kwappe or neme ta̲i̲kwappeh) is a Numic language of the Uto-Aztecan family, spoken in the Western United States by the Shoshone people.

How do you say hello in Shoshone?

In Shoshone's language, behne is a way to greet people and say hello in a friendly way.

What food did the Shoshone eat?

The Western Shoshone ate mostly roots, nuts, seeds, fish, and small animals. Some Western Shoshone built huts covered with brush or bark mats. Others lived in caves. The Northern Shoshone fished and collected wild roots.

What did the Shoshone use for medicine?

The Shoshone and the Blackfeet Indians of California used gumplant as a remedy for colds, making a medicinal tea from the leaves and especially the sticky flowers.

What games did the Shoshone tribe play?

During the year, Shoshone bands occasionally gathered together and competed with each other in a variety of games. Their competitions included foot races, horse races, shinny, dancing, and other activities. Gambling or betting was often involved with many of the games played by the Northwestern Shoshone.

What plants did the Shoshone tribe use?

They dug up roots, camas bulbs, and wild onions. Greens and the sugar content of various honey plants enlivened the diet. Thistles and some kinds of sunflowers served as the only source of seeds. The seasonality of foodstuffs ruled the annual congregating, movement, and dispersal of the various Shoshone groups.

How do you say hello in Shoshone?

In Shoshone's language, behne is a way to greet people and say hello in a friendly way.

What did the Shoshone tribe eat?

The Shoshone ate such diverse plants as thistle stems, sagebrush seeds, the leaves and roots of arrowleaf balsamroot, buffalo berries, limber pine seeds, sego lilies, wild rye seeds, Indian ricegrass, cattails, and much more. Of all the plant foods, pinyon nuts were the most important.

What are teepees made of?

A tipi (also spelled teepee) is a type of shelter, shaped like a cone and traditionally made from wooden poles and coverings sewn from the hides of bison.

What were the shelters of the Great Basin Shoshones made of?

Clothes: The Great Basin Shoshones wore clothes made of twined sagebrush bark with robes typically made of rabbit furs.

What was the main source of subsistence on the Plains?

The buffalo was the main source of subsistence on the Plains and the food, weapons, houses and style of clothes worn by the Shoshone changed accordingly. Food: The food of the Plains Shoshone tribe was predominantly buffalo but also they also hunted deer, elk, bear and wild turkey.

What did the Shoshone hunt?

But the Shoshone also fished and hunted elk, mule deer, mountain sheep and jackrabbit, all of which provided protein for their diets. Berries could be made into soup or pemmican. Pemmican, which is known to many other tribes, is dried, powdered meat mixed with fat and berries. The Shoshone also ate roots, which they baked in earthen ovens.

When did the Shoshone people move northward?

Indian Encampment, Shoshone Village (1860) by Albert Bierstadt. ( Public Domain ) But they crossed the Rocky Mountains by 1500 AD and expanded northward to the Great Plains. Around 1700, one group of Shoshone people inhabited the Southern Plains and became the Comanches.

How many people speak the Shoshone language?

5,000 Shoshone Language Speakers. “The Shoshone language is spoken by approximately 5,000 people across Nevada, Idaho, and Wyoming. It belongs to the western branch of the Numic group of Uto- Aztecan languages,” states the encyclopedia article, written by Christopher Loether of Idaho State University.

What did the Plains tribes call their houses?

Other tribes on the American Plains called them the Grass House People, probably a reference to the conical houses made of sosoni grass that they built in the Great Basin of Nevada and Utah. A Western Shoshone basket bowl. ( CC0) Some Plains natives also called the Shoshone the Snake People.

What tribes did the Shoshone trade horses with?

Shoshone traded horses with neighboring tribes in the Northwest including the Blackfeet, Nez Perce, Cayuse, Spokan, and Bannock tribes. ”.

What does the name Shoshone mean?

The Shoshone call themselves Newe, which means “People. ”. The name Shoshone comes from their word sosoni, ...

Where are the Shoshone tribes?

They are scattered over a big area in three main groups in three states, Nevada, Idaho, and Wyoming, with their roots being in the far West of the United States.

Why was Sagebrush important to the Shoshone?

It was crucially important to the Shoshone to maintain a harmonious relationship between the natural and human worlds. Prayers of petition and thanks, then, were part of everyday life. These attitudes still persist among many.

How did Native Americans survive?

Each group of Native Americans survived by adapting to the resources of its own area. Consider the group now called the Northwestern Band of Shoshone Nation. Earlier, they called themselves kammitakka, “jackrabbit-eaters,” and lived in northern Utah and southern Idaho. They lived in small and fluid family groups, hunting and gathering scarce resources throughout the spring, summer and fall. During the winter, the small groups gathered together into larger camps in areas that provided cover, timber, and food sources to supplement the foodstuffs they had gathered and stored. Often they wintered near hot springs at Battle Creek near Franklin, Idaho or at Promontory Point or Crystal Springs in Utah, erecting brush or tipi homes.

What was the significance of the Pinyon Harvest?

The Pinyon Harvest was a time of religious ceremonies, and the people regarded the pinyon-gathering areas as sacred. But the Shoshone apparently approached all of their relationships with the land spiritually. Animals killed were often treated ritually, with their heads placed to the east or their organs set out in the brush or trees; the dead animals were addressed with special respect. Plants were harvested with prayers and offering. When digging a root, for instance, a Shoshone might leave a small stone or bead in the hole.

What did the Northwestern Band do?

The Northwestern Band moved between these two groups–after all, the Shoshones were all close relatives–and used the resources of both areas. They fished Bear Lake and the Bear, Weber, and Snake rivers, using spears, gill nets, and basket traps. They snared or shot waterfowl, grouse, coots, and owls, and they snared small animals like wood rats, muskrats, and squirrels. To cook these, they singed the fur off then roasted the animals whole or stuffed.

Where did the band gather pinyon nuts?

Of all the plant foods, pinyon nuts were the most important. The band usually went to Grouse Creek, in northwestern Utah, to gather the nuts in the fall. After they harvested the green cones, they would roast the cones to release the seeds. They would then parch the shells to make them brittle, crack them with a metate, and winnow the nuts with a fan tray. The parched nuts could be eaten whole or ground to make a warm or cold mush.

Did the Shoshones own land?

In the past, there was no ownership of land among the Shoshonean people; all Shoshones had a right to its resources and all had a stake in keeping well. But the end of this way of life, with its seasonal migrations and small-group cooperation, began when Mormon settlers moved onto the traditional Northwestern Shoshone lands. Also, emigrants hunting and grazing their livestock along the Oregon Trail decimated food sources and polluted streams.

What were the main resources of the Shoshone?

Shoshone arts and industries exploited wood resources, animal products such as leather, sinew, bone, and minerals such as obsidian, flint, steatite, and slate. Leather working was done mostly by women, except for bowstrings, shields, drums, and rattles, which men produced.

What were the roles of women in Shoshone society?

Women were traditionally in charge of plant gathering, butchering and preparing bison, household chores, crafting items such as tipis and clothing, and child care. Men were in charge of hunting, warfare, and the political and economic decisions for the tribe.

What are the three groups of Shoshones?

Since the Shoshones are widespread across the West, anthropologists have divided them into three groups based on where they live: the Western Shoshones of Nevada, the Northern Shoshones of Idaho, and the Eastern Shoshones of Wyoming. The different bands of Shoshone speakers share many cultural traits. The Eastern Shoshones are the only band that has adopted a Great Plains way of life.

Where are the Shoshones of the Plains?

In 1868 the Shoshones of the Plains ceded their ancestral lands and were placed on a reservation in the lee of the Wind River Range of Wyoming. The Wind River Reservation now extends over 2,268,000 acres and is shared by Eastern Shoshones (who live mainly in the west and northwest) and Arapahos (who live mainly in the east and southeast). The Shoshone population on the reservation was 1,185 in 1988, following years of out-migration in response to dire poverty and high unemployment rates.

Which tribes adopted the Great Plains way of life?

The Eastern Shoshones are the only band that has adopted a Great Plains way of life. The prehistory of the Shoshone people– how their ancestors (the Numa) were able to occupy a large portion of the Great Basin (Nevada and Utah), in addition to the contiguous areas of Idaho and Wyoming–is a debated topic. The origin of the Numa is believed ...

How many people were on the Shoshone reservation in 1988?

The Shoshone population on the reservation was 1,185 in 1988, following years of out-migration in response to dire poverty and high unemployment rates. Christopher Loether. Idaho State University. Shimkin, Demetri. "Eastern Shoshone.".

When did the Shoshones first appear?

The name Shoshone was first recorded in 1805 after Meriwether Lewis encountered a group of "Sosonees or snake Indians" among the Crows and noted them in his diary. The Shoshones were also called the "Snake People" by some Plains Indians. The origin of the term Snake People is based on the sign, in Indian sign language, ...

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1.The Shoshone – Continuing the Traditions of Their …

Url:https://www.legendsofamerica.com/na-shoshone/

11 hours ago The Shoshone ranged through northern Utah and into Idaho and Wyoming, hunting animals, fishing, and gathering many different kinds of seeds, roots, berries, and other foods. As the …

2.Shoshone | I Love History

Url:https://ilovehistory.utah.gov/portfolio-item/shoshone/

10 hours ago The Shoshone adapted well to their new surroundings. The Northern and Eastern groups, for example, adopted a nomadic lifestyle, hunting and gathering where resources were plentiful. …

3.The Nomadic Survival Tactics of the Shoshone Tribe

Url:https://www.ancient-origins.net/history-ancient-traditions/shoshone-tribe-0010650

34 hours ago The Northwestern Shoshones were neighbors to two different groups of Shoshone peoples. Those to the north fished the Snake River drainage and depended heavily on bulbs like …

4.Shoshone of Northern Utah | History to Go

Url:https://historytogo.utah.gov/uhg-first-peoples-shoshone-northern-utah/

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5.Encyclopedia of the Great Plains | SHOSHONES - UNL

Url:http://plainshumanities.unl.edu/encyclopedia/doc/egp.na.105

4 hours ago The Shoshone people were very mobile and skilled at hunting and gathering, and with each change of the season they migrated to obtain the food and other resources they depended on …

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