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Recent And Contemporary Foraging Practices Of The Harney Valley Paiute, Marilyn Dunlap Couture

Dissertations and Theses

Native plants still play an important part in the lives of some American Indians. This thesis describes recent foraging practices which persist among the Harney Valley Paiute, a group of Northern Paiute Indians which formerly occupied all of Harney Valley in southeastern Oregon. The field research was conducted from 1973 to 1978. The traditional seasonal harvest round is described as well as the identification, habitat, distribution, and seasonality of forty-one plant species. Native plant use, subsistence and the role of plants, foraging techniques, implements, processing, preservation, intertribal relations, trade patterns, and tribal movements are also presented.