102 GrtBn

Ethnies	Koso, Modoc, Northern Paiute, Southern Paiute, Washoe, Western Shoshone as well as ethnies throughout the Great Basin including Bannock, Lohim, Northern Shoshone, and Ute
*Transitional ethnies*	Achomawi, Atsugewi, Kawaiisu, Tubatulabl
	x

*Shared Elements*
*Government*	Family groups and some tribalism in northern ethnies
*Communities*	Nomadic or semi-sedentary
*Marriage*	Informal
*Dances*	Bear dance, ghost dance (late)
*Primary Food*	Foraging among southern ethnies while the northern ethnies were hunter/gatherers. There were a small number of farmers in the area of the Virgin River valley of southern Utah and Nevada and northwestern Arizona.

The California ethnies of the Great Basin macro-culture were the poorest of the Unites States. Most were generally considered to be "diggers", a descriptive title applied because most individuals carried a digging stick to facilitate their foraging. Little of the history of the California ethnies of the Great Basin macro-culture was recorded because its ethnies were timid in nature and avoided contact except for the Northern Paiute and Modoc who often victimized their neighbors also.

Since the southern Great Basin ethnies generally traveled in small family groups, their was minimal social activity and only limited utilitarian crafts, though art was not important among the northern ethnies either. The introduction of livestock into the Great Basin destroyed the the flora upon which this macro-culture depended for food.

*Populations*	Year 1700	Year 1800	Year 1900	Year 2000
Koso	150	150	100	100
Modoc	600	600	0	0
Paiute, Northern	2,500	2,500	1,000	3,500
Paiute, Southern	150	150	50	50
Shoshoni, Western	500	500	200	500
Washoe	500	400	100	100

Total Great Basin	4,400	4,300	1,450	4,250

Return to Class Main Page	*Module 1: Glossary*	*Module 2: Education*	*Module 3: Literatures*	*Module 4: Cultures*

*Module 5: History*	*Module 6: Today*	*Module 7: Curriculum*	Module 8: Seminar	*Exit class*