California, Plateau, and Great Basin

CALIFORNIA culture area:

state of california, slightly into northern mexico and oregon

no culture area in the world is more complex (except new guinea)

all major north american indian language families are present except eskimo and aleut

earth diver myths with turtle and duck

many myths about Coyote- coyote does good and bad- dual personalities- creator and destroyer- depending on the myths and the group who is telling the myth

Coyote create humans by building a sweat lodge and putting sticks inside of it- creating humans

myths about Lizard- competes with Coyote over creation- argue about hands- lizard wanted humans to have hands like his and Coyote wanted them to have paws

Wolf (Coyotes older brother) wanted everyone to have two lives, and Coyote said only one life because there was too much crying and mourning for one death that he did not want it to happen twice

Culture area can be divided into different sections-

ACORN- use in flower, use many plants roots and seeds

hunting and gathering area (except in the extreme south east where there is a little crop trilogy agriculture)

regional variation in food resources

foods traded between regions - varied diet

animals, plants, fish sea mammals, shell fish

diseases: small pox, measles, influenza, and coming from washington oregon area- malaria

Junipero Serra- started missions of california, introduced cattle, sheep, grains, and diseases from mexico; not a well liked person of indians of north america; severe activities- ex. tortures; spanish missions were not friendly places; "neophites"- baptized indians- made to live near missions and worked fields heavily- labor without pay, took away children when they were 5 or 6 to keep indians around (social control)- damage done to children- indians girls locked up until they were married

types of indian resistance-- passive (pretended to not understand spanish and to do duties very slowly as a result), infanticide and abortion (didn't want children to be introduced into a world of slaves), reverse baptism, ran away (which was not easy), about 8000 escaped of the 80000; overt force- attacked missions ; 1775- mission of san diego was destroyed by thousand(s?) of indians

Junipero Serra was placed up for sainthood, however he has not moved from the first level because of all of the indian response

small amount of English contact- group of sailors- w/ Miwok- english brought gifts of food and ritual objects when they walked into camp- British thought they saw them as gods because of the strange behavior (mourning behavior) of the Miwoks- because they camp from the land of the dead- thought it was dead ancestors coming back

Russian contact- North- wanted to control region for furs

117 indian communities in california today- many have moved to urban areas- particularly LA and Oakland

in the 1970s and 80s - state put on big push for indian education

1990s the indians developed complex gaming system- have particularly hurt Reno

Ishi: a Yahi Indian (small indian group)- he was the last Yahi and speaker of Yahi language when he was found- Yahi was part of Yana; Ishi was in Northern California; born around 1862; Ishi means "man" in Yana- never told his real name (would not tell real name to people outside of his group); died in 1916; was having trouble getting food- so he went down to oreville california where the sheriff caught him stealing live animals; was put in jail and could not communicate with anyone because he only knew Yahi; TT Waterman and Kroger- two anthropologists who went and bailed him out of jail- took him back to UC Berkley - gave him positions of custodian for museum- then he could be an informant- and they gave him lodging ; mastered English well enough that he would give lectures to general public; made good friends with Dr. Pope and learned a lot about basic anatomy and humans (did not like surgery or anesthetics- because someone could steal your soul); did very well until 1914 when he got TB; "the last wild indian"

PLATEAU Culture area:

landlocked area, has rivers and streams, very elaborate cultures existing into 20th century

mythology: animals that are human like, transformer figure; south: Coyote (good and bad); Blue Jay: came from the soiled diaper of moon - gave all animals their present form

Root Child: son of a woman who married a root and used it in an inproper manner and this led to root child- he was angry about his origin- and because of this anger he changed animals into human beings and changed other things into utensils; got into a tangle with toad woman- she jumped into his face and they both rose into the sky and became the moon

columbia river basin

Horse was very important

long tradition of religious rituals

two indian groups particularly influence by horse> Nez Perez and Flathead

riverine settlement patterns

reliance on aquatic foods (fish)

complex fishing technology

hunted animals, plant foods

kinship system involves a lot of inner marriage to tie families together

traded with different groups

also traded at the Dalles

males and some females had vision quests - tried to find spirit that would be tutor in life

preferred democratic and peaceful relations

men made tools, esp. out of lithics- stone tools; women- digging sticks, tanning tools, sewing tools, very fine basket makers

temporary spring, fall and summer structures, winter- pit houses- subterranean

winter- time of leisure- repair of items, story tellings, hunting, ice fishing, food storage, shaman duels

southern plateau- about 50% salmon, 40% plants, 10% lad animals

fishing- spring to fall activity

july and august- berry picking time (esp. huckleberry)

late summer and fall- men hunter deer and elk- women gathered medicine plants

Headman- lead by ability to make people understand he was leader- held office with generosity, influenced decisions, had great oratory skills, had to be great decision maker, possession of some religious powers, had to keep tranquility, sometimes it was hereditary,

bilateral kinship system

monogamy and some polygyny

felt marriage was very important- kinship ties were important for survival

social control mechnisms: threats of sorcery, gossip, myth, public opinion, public whipping, residence rules, only would kill someone who was physically dangerous- very rare

birth: pregnant women- strict diet, worked hard, mothers performed properly so child would not have behavior problems or physical defects, child born in hut with female helpers and woman's mother, mother disposed of afterbirth (as it can be dangerous in the wrong hands); shaman will be called in to help birthing process if there were difficulties, infanticide and abortion were rare, child normally named at time of birth- child becomes a human once it is named

adolescent children were indulged until puberty- at this point their male or female behavior was taught to them by grand parents

girl at first menstruation was very dangerous and was isolated

when a boy reached puberty he would be sent out to go on vision quest

marriage after courtship was arranged by family

when there were two wives they had different houses

Death: burial after death, body washed and buried with goods, widow(er) had strict taboos for one year- gave away items of deceased at the end of this year, did not name children after dead siblings

needed to keep good relations with supernatural- do not violate major taboos

shamans: male and female- had powers of particular types- got powers from vision quests or dreams

rituals: ensured world renewal held a couple times a year

Sanpoil- Nespelem:

subterranean houses

mat houses

burned house if someone died in it

salmon, deer, elk, antelope, rabbits (small game)

pemmican- very nourishing- pounded fat and venison with berries

winter time: gaming

pacifism was a rule

believed in equality

shared goods in times of needs when others did not have

bilateral with emphasis on patrilineal

patrilocal residence

divorce- extremely rare

political organization: village as man unit and chief as important person

muder- kin revenge

shamans: male and female- could cure and curse and individual

illness could be caused by a shaman: were feared

rattlesnake shaman: dealt with rattlesnake bites

guardian spirits were very important- gained through period of isolation and vision quest

public ceremonies: root ceremony, salmon ceremony, winter dances- noted importance of guardian spirit and brought people together across village lines

traveled up and down rivers- traded a lot with each other- up and down river

salmon chief: supervises fishing - when and how

guardian spirit helped with hunt

Columbia Indian Confederacy:

made up of: Wenatchee, Chelan, Entiat, Columbia

first major leader: Shooktalkoosum- gained position of headman of Columbia (this was normally an inherited position, and neither of his parents were even Columbia) and then of the Confederacy

lead bison hunts in blackfoot country; went out wrapped in his magic red blanket (very identifiable) - blackfoot did not like him - blackfoot went to an old shaman to find a way to stop him- the next year they kill him

next leader: Shooktalkoosum's brother, and then he other brother, and then Shooktalkoosum 2 his younger brother- also called Moses- took people into latter part of 19th century

Moses knew and mastered english though he would never admit it to the people in his group spook various indian languages from the area,