N E Z P E RCE P E O P L E S of N O R T H A M E R I C A People of the Land A NTHROPOLOGISTS believe that the ancestors of the Nez Perce settled in the Columbia Plateau around 10,000 years ago At first the population was likely small but it grew until the Nez Perce occupied a region covering parts of present-day Oregon Washington and Idaho The ancestral Nez Perce likely speared large game gathered mussels and wild plants and fished The earliest Nez Perce ancestors may have lived in caves and holes in the canyon walls or set up camp in the open But around 4,500 years ago they began to build pit houses These were shelters with floors dug a few feet into the ground The part of the shelter that was above ground was probably made of poles covered with brush or bark Later the Nez Perce built large communal lodges in place of pit houses These structures were made of two walls that angled in toward each other forming a triangle The walls were covered with mats woven from cattail stalks reeds or grasses Sometimes the floor was dug into the ground A lodge could be 100 feet 30 5 m or longer and house up to 30 families Everyone slept along the walls of the lodge and each family built its own fire in the center of the structure The smoke went up through openings at the top of the lodge The Nez Perce lived in their lodges during the winter when they settled Idaho lakes and forests made good fishing and hunting grounds for the ancestors of the Nez Perce 9
An adaptable form of shelter the tepee above allowed Nez Perce families to camp near salmon sources right into villages in the canyons There they were protected from the worst of the snow and cold Most villages were set up along streams where the Nez Perce could find fish and firewood By about 1700 the Nez Perce lived in 70 to 130 villages throughout their homeland A few villages contained up to 300 people But the majority generally included anywhere from 30 to 100 members most of whom belonged to an extended family group In addition to one or more lodges a village usually also included dome-shaped huts for sweat baths and other ceremonies as well as an area for holding ritual dances In the spring villagers left their lodges to travel to fishing hunting and gathering camps Instead of building new lodges at each camp they usually set up cone-shaped tepees The walls of the earliest tepees were covered with mats made of bark or reeds but these materials were later replaced by bison hides The Nez Perce spoke a language belonging to the Sahaptin language family The languages of many other tribes on the Columbia Plateau including the Cayuse Molala Palouse Tenino Umatilla Walla Walla and Yakama were closely related Other Plateau tribes such as the Spokan spoke unrelated lan guages Many Nez Perce learned the languages of their neighbors In addition most of the tribes used a common sign language to communicate with one another The Columbia Plateau was home to more than 20 different Indian peoples but by 1700 the Nez Perce were the most influ ential For the most part the Plateau tribes got along well Many of the groups observed a similar culture or freely adopted aspects of one another’s The Nez Perce intermarried with many other Plateau tribes especially the Palouse and Cayuse In addition they 10
e c r e P z e N g n i e B F E A S T O F F I S H c Fish made up about half of the average Nez Perce’s diet Each year Nez Perce fishermen pulled 2 to 3 million pounds 907,185 1 4 million kg of fish mostly salmon from the area’s rivers That allowed each individual to eat up to 500 pounds 227 kg of fish annually more than a pound 0 5 kg a day In addition to serving as an important food source salmon were considered sacred as was the water in which they swam
