Native American prehistory—Plateau
Native American prehistory in the Plateau region encompasses the cultural and subsistence practices of Indigenous peoples situated between the Cascade Mountains and the northern Rockies. This arid area, influenced by the Columbia and Fraser rivers, played a crucial role in shaping the lifestyles of its inhabitants. Unlike other regions, the Plateau does not exhibit evidence of fluted Clovis points but features non-fluted spear points dating back to 9500 BCE, suggesting early hunting practices. By around 9000 BCE, salmon fishing became integral to the diet, with fish providing a significant food source due to its storability.
Cultural practices evolved with the construction of pit houses and the use of grinding stones by 5000 BCE. By 1300 CE, Plateau peoples were established in villages, relying on both fishing and the hunting of local game. Their interactions with neighboring cultures introduced new tools and materials, indicating a blend of influences. The Plateau tribes remained among the last to encounter European explorers, with significant contact initiated in the late 18th century. This rich prehistory illustrates the adaptability and resilience of Native American cultures in the Plateau region.
Native American prehistory—Plateau
Date: c. 9500 b.c.e.-c. 1800 c.e.
Location: British Columbia, eastern Oregon, Idaho, Washington
Cultures affected: Plateau tribes, including Coeur d’Alene, Flathead, Nez Perce, Spokane, Yakima
The Plateau culture area is enclosed between the Cascade mountain range to the west and the even higher northern Rockies to the east. The area is very dry; it is closely related to the Great Basin, but its dryness is tempered somewhat by its more northerly location (and therefore cooler temperatures) and the presence of two major river systems, the Columbia and the Fraser.
Alone among all the major regions of the United States, the Plateau does not show any evidence of the fluted Clovis points. Instead, at Lind Coulee in southeastern Washington, non-fluted spear points dated to 9500 b.c.e. have been found. This possibly indicates the hunting of a variety of Ice Age and modern large animals.
Around 9000 b.c.e., life changed at The Dalles in Oregon (a Columbia River site) with the advent of salmon fishing, which would continue to be a major part of the Plateau diet until modern times. Salmon may have supplied as much as half of the food, because it could be dried and stored for long periods. Other items used included birds, mussels, rabbits, beaver, and numerous types of roots and bulbs. This would indicate that the western Archaic form of life, known as the Desert culture farther south, could have begun in this region. Scholars disagree about the similarity of the cultures of the Plateau and the Great Basin. Some have seen very little difference, based on similar tools, moccasins, and folklore. Others feel that the availability of salmon created a much more sedentary lifestyle for the Plateau tribes.
By 5000 b.c.e., Plateau peoples were making grinding stones and living in pit houses, and by 4000 b.c.e., pit house villages existed in the Snake River Valley of Idaho. Well-made, leaf-shaped points were being used to hunt deer, elk, and pronghorn antelope to supplement the river’s resources.
Contact with the outside led to changes. Algonquian-speaking peoples appeared about 1000 b.c.e., and with them came the use of ground-stone tools including mauls, pestles, atlatl weights, fish gorges, and tubular pipes, as well as animal sculptures. Contact with the northwestern coastal cultures along the Columbia and Fraser river valleys led to the final culture phase, called Piqunin. After 1300 c.e., Plateau peoples lived in villages of five to ten earthlodges in the sheltered canyons of the rivers, which often were ten degrees warmer than the surrounding winter countryside. Here they hunted deer and fished for salmon, which they preserved by drying. In the spring and fall, they set up temporary camps in the smaller canyons and uplands to collect canas and kous roots, along with berries, and to hunt larger game.
Plateau peoples were some of the last to come into direct contact with Europeans, with first known encounters being with the Alexander Mackenzie and his expedition of 1793, along the Fraser River, and the Lewis and Clark expedition, when it reached the Columbia River and its tributaries in 1805.