Plateau PeopleAdib, Brandon, Brian & Ezekiel

Map of Where They Lived

Languages

Athapascan Tsilhqot'in (Chilcotin) Carrier Nicola-Similkameen

(language now extinct)

Ktunaxa: Ktunaxa (Kootenay or Kutenai)

Interior SalishanSecwepemc (Shuswap)Stl'atl'imx (Lillooet)OkanaganNlaka'pamux (Thompson)

Economy

The Plateau People would share the food the gathered and caught with the rest of the village.

They would trade items such as fish, fur and weapons with other neighboring villages.

Political Structure

Chief/ Elder

Hunting Chief Fishing ChiefWarfare Chief

Everyone Else

• It was in a sense a democracy.

• Men voted on all decisions the village made, women did not.

Diet

Men were skilled hunters and they were also responsible for fishing.

There is a large variety of animals in the Plateau region. (I.e. salmon, deer, beaver and fox)

Women were in charge of gathering berries and roots for food and medicine.

Tools and Weapons

Many tools were made from bones, wood and stone.

Men used nets, pits and game corals and also drove them over cliffs or water to spear them from the canoes.

Weapons such as: Bow and Arrow, Harpoons, Spears, Clubs and Slings were used for hunting and self defense.

Ktunaxa fish trap

Man fishing with harpoon

Tools: Plateau Culture Digging Stick

Used from strong wood, seer antlers and are then applied a heating technique to harden the material.

About 2-3 feet in length, with the bottom.

These sticks were used to gather edible roots like Camas and Bitterroot.

Weapon: Three Pronged Fish Spear

Men set up wodden platforms that hung over the river and would use spears to catch salmon.

They mainly used a three prong spear, made of durable wood with 3 sharp edges.

Salmon were mainly fished during late summer and early fall.

Transportation:Sturgeon Canoe

The sturgeon-nosed canoe was designed to be most suitable for travel through bulrushes and maneuverable in turbulent waters.

Built from pine trees, birch bark and the rein that comes from pines.

Each canoe carries a max of 6 people.

Transportation:Dugout Canoe

The Dugout Canoe was built for long distance transportation

Since they had to travel far, they had to use high quialty wood like red cedar, cotton wood and birch.

Had a max of 8 people

Housing: Tule Mat Lodge

These kinds of houses were mainly used in the summer time.

Tule mat lodges were essentially large, tipis constructed using the same materials.

They had a wooden frame, covered with mats of tule or other grass.

Housing: Pit House

Pit houses were used mostly during the winter months, but some may have been used all year.

A pit house was a shelter buiilt mostly below ground with an entrance and ladder at the top.

The walls and frame of the pit house were built with logs and sealed (for insulation) with dirt and grasses.

Pit House Continued…

The roof frame was also made out of wodden poles and coverd with layers of timber, bark and earth.

Each pit house had several families living inside them while only being 8- 10 meters in diameter.

The chiefs pit house could be twice the size of the average.

Significant Groups: Ktunaxa

Formally know as Kutenai or Kootenay

Lived along Kootenay River in southeastern British Columbia, intot Alberta, Idaho and Montana.

Often crossed Rookies to hunt buffalo.

Originally living in the Plains area.

Ktunaxa Girl

Significant Groups: Nicola

Unknown name due to extinction of their language.

Nlaka’pamux called them “Stuwix” to distinguish them from others in the Nicola Valley.

Lived in Nicola Valley of British Columbia.

Creation Story

The Plateau People believed strongly that there were spirits inhabiting all living and non-living things

Held animals in a high regard

Creator was the Coyote

Coyote created everything and everyone and brought salmon up the river every spring

A trickster, often compared to the god Loki

Work Cited

http://firstpeoplesofcanada.com/fp_groups/fp_plateau1.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loki

http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/aboriginal-people-plateau/

http://www.ohs.org/education/oregonhistory/historical_records/dspDocument.cfm?doc_ID=22DC52CE-C760-A719-8EDC1641DAFBA4AC

http://nativesofcanada.tripod.com/id7.html