Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Plateau
Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Plateau, also referred to by the phrase Indigenous peoples of the Plateau, and historically called the Plateau Indians (though comprising many groups) are
Their territories are located in the inland portions of the basins of the
There are several distinguishing features that differentiate plateau culture from the surrounding native cultures. These include a high reliance on roots, such as
Range
In Canada, the greater part of the
The First Nations of the Plateau were influenced by the
In the United States, Interior Salish people inhabited the Columbia River and its tributaries above
The Columbia River below Celilo Falls was inhabited by
History
While plateau people kept no written records, the prehistory of the plateau region can be partially reconstructed by a combination of oral traditions, linguistics and archeological evidence. There is archeological evidence of human presence on the plateau for at least 12,000 years. The Marmes Rockshelter and Kennewick Man are two examples of early human presence. Over time human technologies adapted to the unique environment. Earth ovens near camas meadows have been found that are up to 8,000 years old.[3] Around 4,000 years ago, there was a shift in the archeological record from small bands to larger semi-sedentary villages, and a shift towards root processing tools, hallmarks of plateau culture.[4]
Linguists and oral traditions point to several comparatively recent movements of people. According to language comparisons, the interior Salish peoples expanded onto the plateau from the vicinity of the lower Fraser River. This expansion reached as far as Montana, was complete around 1,500 years ago.[5] Likewise, Athabaskans on the plateau are part of a relatively recent expansion from northern Canada and Alaska, as recently as 1,000 years ago. The Kalapuya people spread into the Willamette Valley, likely from the south, in the last 1,000 years.
The recent expansion of
According to their oral tradition, the Kutenai people originated to the east, and moved onto the plateau in late pre-historic times.
European contact
Outside influences began changing life on the plateau decades before the first direct contact with Europeans. There is strong evidence the smallpox epidemic of the 1770s spread across the plateau region, greatly reducing the population.
While there was some minor violence, serious armed conflicts did not begin until the mass migration of European Americans to the southern portion of the plateau region, starting in the 1840s. Through a series of treaties and conflicts, including the Cayuse War, Yakima War, Coeur d'Alene War, Modoc War, and Nez Perce War, natives on the southern plateau were confined on reservations and their traditional lifestyle was largely disrupted.
Tribes and bands
Plateau peoples generally self-identified by their wintering village or band, as opposed to a tribe. Intermarrying between groups was common and in many cases encouraged. Different groups shared hunting and foraging ranges. After European contact, natives were classified into tribes led by chiefs, in order to facilitate negotiation and land settlements. Commonly recognized plateau tribes include the following:
Chinook peoples
- Cathlamet, Washington
- Clackamas, Oregon
- Clatsop, Oregon
- Kathlamet
- Multnomah, Oregon
- Wasco-Wishram, Oregon and Washington
- Watlata, Washington
Interior Salish
- Chelan
- Coeur d'Alene Tribe, Idaho, Montana, Washington
- Entiat, Washington
- Flathead(Selisch or Salish), Idaho and Montana
- Bitterroot Salish
- Kalispel (Pend d'Oreilles), Washington and Montana
- Lower Kalispel, Washington
- Upper Kalispel, Montana
- In-SHUCK-ch, British Columbia (Lower Lillooet)
- Lil'wat, British Columbia (Lower Lillooet)
- Methow, Washington
- Nespelem, Washington
- Nlaka'pamux (Thompson people), British Columbia
- Nicola people (Thompson-Okanagan confederacy)
- Okanagan, British Columbia and Washington
- Sanpoil, Washington
- Secwepemc, British Columbia (Shuswap people)
- Sinixt (Lakes), British Columbia, Idaho, and Washington
- Sinkayuse
- Sinkiuse-Columbia, Washington (extinct)
- Spokane people, Washington
- St'at'imc, British Columbia (Upper Lillooet)
- Wenatchi (Wenatchee)
Sahaptin people
- Upper Cowlitz or Taidnapam
- Kittitas (Upper Yakima)
- Klickitat people, Washington
- Lower Snake people: Chamnapam, Wauyukma, Naxiyampam
- Nez Perce, Idaho
- Palus(Palouse), Idaho, Oregon, and Washington
- Skinpah (Skin)
- Tenino (Warm Springs Bands)
- Umatilla, Oregon
- Walla Walla, Washington
- Wanapum, Washington
- Yakama, Washington
Other or multiple
- Cayuse, Oregon
- Cowlitz, Washington
- Klamath, Oregon
- Kalapuya, northwest Oregon
- Tualatin, northwest Oregon)
- Mohawk River, northwest Oregon
- Santiam, northwest Oregon
- Yaquina, northwest Oregon
- Kutenai(Kootenai, Ktunaxa), British Columbia, Idaho, and Montana
- Modoc, California and Oregon, now also Oklahoma
- Molala(Molale), Oregon
- Nicola Athapaskans (extinct), British Columbia
- Upper Nisqually (Mishalpan)
Languages
Plateau tribes primarily spoke Interior Salish languages in the north and Plateau Penutian languages in the south. Chinookan languages were spoken on the lower Columbia and Kalapuyan languages were spoken in the Willamette valley. These are often classified as Penutian languages, but this classification is not universally agreed upon. In the northernmost portion of the plateau Athabaskan languages were spoken. Each of these language families consisted of multiple languages that were not mutually intelligible. Many of the individual languages had several dialects with significant differences.
The
Material culture
Diet
Traditional Plateau cuisine include wild plants, fish, especially
Camas lily bulbs were an important but dangerous staple. Common camas, camassia quamash, is a plant in the lily family with blue flowers, whose bulbs were dug for food. The white flowering death camas, zygadenus venenosus, is a different but related species also in the lily family, and can be deadly poisonous. For safety reasons, Plateau peoples gathered these bulbs while aerial parts were still growing in order to correctly identify the edible species. They dug these bulbs with deer antlers. Women in the tribe cooked the roots in a shallow pit filled up with hot stones. When the ground around the stones was hot enough, the stones were removed, and bulbs were placed in the hole to cook overnight.
Plateau women made berry cakes using
The men supplemented the diet by hunting and fishing, with salmon making up a major part of their food supply..
In the spring and fall, salmon would swim up rivers from the Pacific Ocean. Plateau fishermen learned many ways to trap salmon.
Birds were often hunted with nets. Men used several methods to capture big game. Groups of men would surround and drive deer or elk towards other hunters or into traps.
Basketry and textiles
Plateau tribes excelled in the art of basketry. They most commonly used
Tools
Tools were made from wood, stone and bone. Arrows for hunting were made from wood and tipped with arrow-heads chipped from special rocks. Antlers from animals were used for digging roots. In addition to their traditional tools, they later adopted the use of metal items such as pots, needles, and guns acquired from trade with Europeans.
Housing
Plateau housing included longhouses roofed with summer
In later years, the people used canvas instead of tule mats. Beginning in the 18th century, Plateau peoples adopted tipis from the Plains Indians. They were made of a pole framework, covered with animal skins or mats woven from reeds. Each month, women would stay temporary in round menstrual huts, measuring about 20 feet (6.1 m) in diameter.[13]
Interior Salish winter homes are distinct from those of First Nations in the area. They were semi-subterranean pit-houses, with well insulated roofs. Logs were carved into steps at the entrances. Dried food was stored outside these winter houses. In the summer, the Salishan people lived in tule mat houses.[14]
Other tribes made their homes out of pieces of cedar or spruce bark. The slanted roofs of cedar homes extended near to the ground, while the spruce-bark houses resembles to adjacent tents.
Clothing
Plateau people wore many types of clothing which changed over time. In the northern region, the women wore buckskin shirts, breech cloths, leggings, and moccasins, and the men wore longer shirts. Winter clothing was made out of rabbit, groundhog, or other animals' fur. Along the Columbia River among the Chinook and Sahaptin, both men and women typically wore just a breech cloth in warm weather. A short robe or cape and leggings would be added in cooler weather. Below the Cascades Rapids women wore grass skirts.[15][9] Women on the southern plateau wore basketry hats. Over time, plateau people generally adopted clothes inspired by plains culture, including buckskin dresses and feathered headgear.
Arts
Today, Native people still make traditional clothing, bags, baskets, and other items. Although some knowledge of traditional arts have been lost as times change, practicing the fine skills are still an important part of their way of life. Mothers and grandmothers decorate their children's outfits for celebration and dancing. Beaded items, such as drums, woven bags and other crafts are used in traditional celebrations and special occasions. Such regalia is used for days during the
Notes
- ^ a b c d e Pritzker, 249
- ^ Towles, Jerry C. 1979. "Settlement and Subsistence in the Willamette Valley: Some Additional Notes". Northwest Anthropological Research Notes, 13: 12–21.
- ^ Thoms, Alston Vern. 1989. "The northern roots of hunter-gatherer intensification: Camas and the Pacific Northwest". PhD Thesis Washington State University
- ^ Ames, Kenneth and Alan Marshall. 1980. "Villages, Demography and Subsistence Intensification on the Southern Columbia Plateau". North American Archeologist, 2(1): 25–52.
- ^ Suttles, Wayne P. 1987. "Coast Salish Essays". Talonbooks
- ^ Sutton, Mark Q. 1986. "Warfare and Expansion: An Ethnohistoric Perspective on the Numic Spread". Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology, 8(1): 65–82.
- ^ a b Roberts, Boyd. 1999. "The Coming of the Spirit of Pestilence: The Introduced Infectious Diseases and Population Decline among the Northwest Coast Indians, 1774-1874". University of Washington Press
- ^ Thompson, David (1916). David Thompson's Narrative of His Explorations in Western America, 1784–1812. Champlain Society. p. 297.
- ^ ISBN 9780803280328.
- ^ Ross, Alexander. Adventures of the first settlers on the Oregon or Columbia River. London: Smith, Elder and Co. 1849, pp. 145-147.
- ^ Pritzker, 250
- ^ Connelly, Tom. "The World's Oldest Shoes" Archived April 10, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, University of Oregon (retrieved March 31, 2010)
- ^ Pritzker 269
- ^ "Interior Salish". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
- ^ Thompson, David (1916). David Thompson's Narrative of His Explorations in Western America, 1784–1812. Champlain Society. p. 297.
- ^ "Official Sherman Alexie Biography" Archived June 2, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, Falls Apart, 2009 (retrieved December 23, 2009)
References
- Pritzker, Barry M. A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. ISBN 978-0-19-513877-1.