Subject: History, Anthropology

Topic: Human History of Yellowstone

OBJECTIVE

Students will be able to identify and describe the Indian groups, which have historically inhabited the Yellowstone Plateau and explain how the landscape of the Yellowstone Plateau influenced how they lived.

METHOD

Working in small groups, students research and write reports about the Indian groups living in the Yellowstone area during the early 1800s. Students make presentations to the class describing each Indian Tribe and discuss how the land influenced the way they lived. Students draw the territories inhabited by these Indians on a large map of the Yellowstone Plateau.

BACKGROUND

The first people arrived in the Yellowstone region during the decline of the last Ice Age (11,500 B.P.). They left little physical evidence of their presence except for their distinctive stone tools and projectile points. They traveled along rivers and down major valleys in pursuit of Ice Age mammals, such as the mammoth and the giant bison, as well as the animals familiar today. They also ate berries, seeds, and roots. Few in number but efficient, these hunters may have contributed to the disappearance of many prehistoric mammals.

When the last glacial period ended (8,000 B.P.), the climate in the Yellowstone region warmed and dried. Many animals that were adapted to colder, wetter conditions became extinct. This environmental change also altered the habits of people. A new lifestyle – hunting for small game and foraging for plants in a distinct home territory – replaced the endless wandering of the original hunters.

Only one group of Indians is thought to have inhabited present-day Yellowstone National Park year-round, and these Indians were a group of the Shoshone known as the Sheep Eaters. In the early 1800s several different Indian groups inhabited the larger area known as the Yellowstone Plateau; and these groups sometimes traveled through present-day Yellowstone Park to hunt or gather food. The groups of the Yellowstone Plateau included:

1. The Piegans, a band of the Blackfoot. The Piegans lived north of the Yellowstone River, controlling land from the Musselshell River in Montana to the Continental Divide.

2. The Crows. The Crows occupied the country from the Yellowstone River southward into Wyoming between the Powder River and the Absaroka-Wind River Mountains.

3. The Shoshone (also called the "Snakes"). The Shoshone occupied the country from the Absaroka-Wind River mountains west to the Blue Mountains of Oregon and from the mountains holding the headwaters of the northern branches of the Snake River southward into northwestern Utah and northeastern Nevada.

The Shoshone occupied territory diverse in its physiography and climate, from alpine to semi-arid desert; and groups were recognized and named for their differences in dietary regimens. For example, there were buffalo eaters, deer eaters, salmon eaters, sheep eaters, and root diggers. This differentiation led to a very structured society, socially and economically, with the buffalo hunters at the top and the sheep hunters and root diggers at the bottom.

4. The Bannocks. They were related to the Shoshone, and they lived in the Snake River plains, territory shared with them by the Shoshone.

5. The Flatheads. They lived in Montana’s Bitterroot Valley.

6. The Nez Perce. They lived in western Idaho and adjacent parts of Oregon and Washington.

MATERIALS

Reference materials for student research

Writing paper

Drawing paper, colored pencils, crayons, marker

The Yellowstone Story, Volume One, by Aubrey L. Haines

PROCEDURE

Before discussing the Indians living on the Yellowstone Plateau in the 1800s, describe the history of early human presence in the Yellowstone area, beginning with the Early Hunters. Emphasize how geology, climate, and vegetation influence how people live. Ask students if they can give examples of how these things influence how they, the students, live today.

When studying groups living on the Yellowstone Plateau in the 1800s, it’s important to recognize that the land influenced them greatly. Ask the students what kinds of questions they would like to ask about these Indian groups which would give them an idea of who they were and how they lived in this sometimes harsh environment.

As students generate questions, write them on the blackboard.

What did they eat?

How did they hunt it, catch it, or gather it?

What were their shelters like?

What was their clothing like?

How was their society structured?

How did they survive through the winters?

Introduce the various Indian groups living on the Yellowstone Plateau in the 1800s. Divide students into small groups; ask them to select one of the groups to research. Encourage students to find answers to their questions. Ask them to think about how the environment of the Yellowstone area influenced the Indians.

Outline the Yellowstone Plateau on a large piece of paper and display it on a bulletin board. Ask students to draw in the territory occupied by each of the Indian groups researched. When the students have completed their research, ask each group to present the information they have found, answering each question they generated earlier in the class.

As students share their information, compare the different groups and discuss the influence of environment on each.

ASSESSMENT

Ask students to create a drawing, illustrating one day in the lives of one of the Indian groups. Write the name of the Indian group on the drawing and display it on the bulletin board with the map.

EXTENSIONS

• Ask students to make dioramas or murals to display during their presentations.

• Ask students to investigate the origins of the Indian tribal names.

• Ask students to imagine that they have returned to the 1800s and have to live and survive by themselves or in small groups in the Yellowstone area. As them to write a story about what they would do for food, shelter, and protection to survive for one year.

SOURCE

Expedition: Yellowstone! Curriculum