Shoshone-Bannock Subsistence and Society

ROBERT F. and YOLANDA MURPHY
ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS
Vol. 16, No. 7
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PUBLICATIONS
ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS
Editors (Berkeley): J. H. Rowe (C), R. F. Millon, D. M. Schneider Volume 16, No. 7, pp. 293-338, 1 map
Submitted by editors September 4, 1959 Issued November 23, 1960 Price, $1.00
University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles California
Cambridge University Press London, England
Manufactured in the United States of America
During the years 1954 to 1957, the authors engaged in ethnographic and historic research on the Shoshone and Bannock Indians under the sponsorship of the Lands Division of the Department of Justice in connection with one of a number of suits brought by Indian tribes for compensation for territory lost to the advancing frontier. The action was brought jointly by the Shoshone Indians of Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, and Nevada, and the Bannock of Idaho; it excluded the Shoshonean speakers of California, and the Bannock remained separate from the suit brought by their colinguists, the Northern Paiute of Oregon and Idaho.
Most anthropologists are aware of the ethnographic issues involved in the Indian lands claims cases, for the profession has had an active role in them. Of central importance, of course, is the question of the extent of territory used and occupied by the tribe in litigation. Other basic problems include the determination of the nature and composition of the groups involved, the rhythm of their seasonal activity, their political identity, and the actual time at which they occupied and used the terrain. Beyond these specifically anthropological considerations, other professionals have had an equally important role in delivering expert testimony in the cases, and we wish only to note in passing that historians, land appraisers, attorneys, and others have had much to do with their outcome.