Ecology and Ethnogenesis

American historians know little about native peoples whose origins began in the Great Basin region who, at contact with Euroamericans, were living in the intermountain West. Adam R. Hodge seeks to correct that in this history of the Eastern Shoshone. His title says much about his subject and his methodology. Hodge approaches his subject with evidence used by ethnohistorians, including archaeology, landscape and wildlife ecology, linguistics, and oral history. The result is a journey back to approximately 1000 Ce, where he introduces Numic-language speakers living in portions of four cultural areas: Great Basin, Plateau, California, and the Southwest. Hodge spends the first third of the book explaining environmental adaptations that the “Basin Numu” evolved to changing climatic eras in this challenging but livable desert and montane world. He rejects the stereotype of “miserable Digger” Indians (p. 61), arguing that the rivers, valleys, and “sinks” (wetlands) of the region provided ample forage and game for successful population maintenance and social growth. His narrative is well balanced with discussions of gender roles and the importance of women in Numu social life

Environmental history · Ethnogenesis · Geography · Historical ecology · Population · Sociology · Subject (documents · Anthropology · Ecology · Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies · History · Indigenous Studies and Ecology · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies

• Isis Current Bibliography of the History of Science and Its Cultural Influence 2023

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