The Timbisha ("rock paint",

Timbisha language Timbisha (''Tümpisa'') or Panamint (also called Koso) is the language of the Native American people who have inhabited the region in and around Death Valley, California, and the southern Owens Valley since late prehistoric times. There are a fe ...

: Nümü Tümpisattsi) are a Native American tribe

federally recognized This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States of America. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes were legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the United ...

as the Death Valley Timbisha Shoshone Band of California. They are known as the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe and are located in south central

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, near the Nevada border. As of the 2010 Census the population of the Village was 124. The older members still speak the ancestral language, also called

Timbisha The Timbisha ("rock paint", Timbisha language: Nümü Tümpisattsi) are a Native American tribe federally recognized as the Death Valley Timbisha Shoshone Band of California. They are known as the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe and are located in sout ...

History

The Timbisha have lived in the

Death Valley Death Valley is a desert valley in Eastern California, in the northern Mojave Desert, bordering the Great Basin Desert. During summer, it is the Highest temperature recorded on Earth, hottest place on Earth. Death Valley's Badwater Basin is the ...

region of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

for over a thousand years. They were originally known as Panamints, as was their Uto-Aztecan language. The band traditionally was very small in size, and linguists estimate that fewer than 200 individuals ever spoke Panamint Shoshone. Euro-Americans first made contact with the Timbisha Shoshone during the California Gold Rush of 1849, but whites quickly moved on to the gold fields, leaving the Shoshone homeland with its current daunting name. Sustained contact occurred during the 1860s through the 1880s, when a stream of ranchers, miners, and homesteaders migrated to Death Valley, patenting the few springs and fertile plots of land in Death Valley. White settlers, using their knowledge of law, gained title to the Valley's scarce water and other resources, pushing the native Shoshones to inferior lands. Shoshones were prohibited from using springs, while the settler's livestock destroyed plants necessary for tribal subsistence. Aboriginal lands taken from the band now include the Furnace Creek Inn and surrounding golf course. The federal government failed to recognize the Timbisha Shoshone as a tribe, and like many small rancheria bands in California, it also failed to protect the Shoshone's rights as indigenous peoples. Belatedly, the Bureau of Indian Affairs did help Hungry Bill patent 160 acres of land in a canyon bordering Death Valley in 1908. The agency later secured an allotment of land for Robert Thompson at Warm Springs in Death Valley. In 1928, federal Indian agents also created a small rancheria, "Indian Ranch" to the east of Death Valley for Timbisha Shoshone Panamint Bill and his extended family. Though band members lacked federal acknowledgment of their tribal or indigenous status, several Timbisha Shoshone attended the federal Sherman and Carson Indian Boarding Schools during the early twentieth century. In 1933 President

Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the Republican Party, holding office during the onset of the Gr ...

created

Death Valley National Monument Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

, an action that subsumed the tribe's homeland within park boundaries. Despite their long-time presence in the region, the proclamation failed to provide a homeland for the Timbisha people. After unsuccessful efforts to remove the band to nearby reservations,

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

officials entered into an agreement with tribal leaders to allow the

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was a major part of ...

to construct an Indian village for tribal members near park headquarters at Furnace Creek in 1938. Thereafter tribal members survived within monument boundaries, although their status was repeatedly challenged by monument officials. They also lived in the

Great Basin The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic basin, endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja California ...

Saline Valley Saline Valley is a large, deep, and arid graben, about in length, in the northern Mojave Desert of California, a narrow, northwest–southeast-trending tectonic sink defined by fault-block mountains. Most of it became a part of Death Valley Natio ...

and northern

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily in ...

Panamint Valley The Panamint Valley is a long basin located east of the Argus and Slate ranges, and west of the Panamint Range in the northeastern reach of the Mojave Desert, in eastern California, United States. Geography The northern end of the valley is in ...

areas of present-day southeastern California. The Death Valley south of

Furnace Creek, California Furnace Creek is a census-designated place (CDP) in Inyo County, California, United States. The population was 136 at the 2020 census, up from 24 at the 2010 census. The elevation of the village is below sea level. Furnace Creek holds the record ...

, and the Panamint Valley south of

Ballarat, California Ballarat is an unincorporated area, unincorporated community in Inyo County, California, Inyo County, California. It lies at an elevation of 1079 feet (329 m). Today, Ballarat is a virtual ghost town. It was founded in 1897 as a supply point fo ...

were predominantly " Desert Kawaiisu", the adjoining areas to the north were composed of almost equal numbers of Timbisha (Panamint) Shoshone and "Desert Kawaiisu" (

Julian Steward Julian Haynes Steward (January 31, 1902 – February 6, 1972) was an American anthropologist known best for his role in developing "the concept and method" of cultural ecology, as well as a scientific theory of culture change. Early life and edu ...

, 1938). Significantly, when borderlands were occupied, it was in fact common that settlements would include people speaking related but different languages. Timbisha Shoshone Tribe community in Death Valley

Timbisha Shoshone Tribe community in Death Valley

During the 1950s National Park Service officials began efforts to evict the Shoshones from Indian Village. The service had previously forbidden Shoshones from continuing their traditional subsistence practices, including gathering firewood, plants, and hunting within Monument boundaries. It prohibited them from using sacred places in the park to conduct traditional sacred ceremonies as well. While the adobe houses at Indian Village were adequate when built by the CCC in the 1930s, by mid-century they were in dilapidated condition. An electric line ran a mere 300 feet from the village, but the Park Service did not fund an extension of the line to indigenous homes. The houses lacked electricity, air conditioning, indoor plumbing and running water. Using these conditions as a rationale, in 1957 the Park Service began a de facto removal policy for the Timbisha Shoshones still living in Indian Village. It began collecting rents, and evicting people when they failed to pay. It also limited occupancy to current residents and their relatives. Through these policies park officials hoped that the village would eventually die out. Many Shoshone men already had to move away for jobs in nearby Beatty, Nevada, or to cities in California. Existing correspondence reveals that white officials could not comprehend why Shoshones would choose to remain in such conditions. They did understand their deep spiritual and ancestral attachment to the land. The decade of the 1950s was the height of the federal "Termination Era" when Congress sought to end its relationship with indigenous tribes by terminating their governments and trust protected tribal lands. In 1958, Congress terminated "Indian Ranch" the enclave established for Panamint Bill earlier in the century and a place where some Timbisha Shoshone continued to reside. At the time, Pauline Esteves, a tribal member, began fighting the National Park Service's eviction plan at Indian Village in Death Valley National Monument. Residents of the village consisted primary of elderly Shoshone women of the Boland, Kennedy, Watterson, Shoshone, and Esteves families. Only about twenty to twenty-five individuals resided there full time. Some worked for the Park Service or at area hotels, but most were unemployed. By the late 1960s the Park Service began destroying Indian Village houses once residents had failed to pay rents or had stayed away for long periods; it did so by using high powered hoses to wash down the adobe casitas. Seeing this, Pauline Esteves began organizing her people to fight the Monument's actions. She contacted California Indian Legal Services, one of the indigenous rights organizations emerging during the decade. In 1975 the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) took the Timbisha Shoshone legal case. NARF attorneys were able to organize Esteves' people as a group of Indians with at least one-half degree Indian blood under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. Presented by tribal member Alice Eben in 1977, the Bureau of Indian Affairs approved the petition. The formal recognition gave the band certain rights and powers in fighting against Park Service eviction. The next year, Pauline Esteves entered into an agreement with the Indian Health Service and the National Park Service for a domestic water supply for the village. The band was able to secure a Bureau of Indian Affairs loan for several trailers to replace the decaying casitas at the village. During this time, the Park Service resisted efforts by tribal members to build permanent houses at the site. The band still did not own the land they lived on, and Park Service leaders feared creating a precedent if they surrendered any land to indigenous claimants. In 1979, with help from NARF, the Timbisha Shoshone band wrote and presented a petition for full federal tribal acknowledgment to the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Population

Estimates for the pre-contact populations of most native groups in California have varied substantially. ''(See

Population of Native California The population of Native California refers to the population of Indigenous peoples of California. Estimates prior to and after European contact have varied substantially. Pre-contact estimates range from 133,000 to 705,000 with some recent schol ...

.)''

Alfred L. Kroeber Alfred Louis Kroeber (June 11, 1876 – October 5, 1960) was an American cultural anthropologist. He received his PhD under Franz Boas at Columbia University in 1901, the first doctorate in anthropology awarded by Columbia. He was also the first ...

put the combined 1770 population of the Timbisha (Koso) and

Chemehuevi The Chemehuevi are an indigenous people of the Great Basin. They are the southernmost branch of Southern Paiute.

at 1,500.Kroeber (1925), p. 883 He estimated the population of the Timbisha and Chemehuevi in 1910 as 500. Julian Steward's figures for Eastern California are about 65 persons in

, 150-160 persons in Little Lake (springs) and the

Coso Range The Coso Range of eastern California is located immediately south of Owens Lake, east of the Sierra Nevada, and west of the Argus Range. The southern part of the range lies in the restricted Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake and the northern pa ...

, about 100 in northern

, 42 in northern

, 29 at Beatty, and 42 in the

Belted Range The Belted Range is a mountain range in Nye County, Nevada. The range is approximately 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas and midway between the Basin and Range National Monument to the northeast and the Death Valley Wilderness Death is the i ...

Tribal recognition

With the help of the California Indian Legal Services, Timbisha Shoshone members led by Pauline Esteves and Barbara Durham began agitating for a formal reservation in the 1960s. The Timbisha Shoshone Tribe was recognized by the US government in 1982. In this effort, they were one of the first tribes to secure tribal status through the

Bureau of Indian Affairs The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States federal agency within the Department of the Interior. It is responsible for implementing federal laws and policies related to American Indians and A ...

' Federal Acknowledgment Process.

Reservation land and residence

The tribe's reservation, the Death Valley Indian Community, was established in 1982. At first it consisted of the original 40 acre tract set aside for Indian Village. Located within

Death Valley National Park Death Valley National Park is an American national park that straddles the California–Nevada border, east of the Sierra Nevada. The park boundaries include Death Valley, the northern section of Panamint Valley, the southern section of Eureka ...

at Furnace Creek in

Inyo County, California Inyo County () is a county in the eastern central part of the U.S. state of California, located between the Sierra Nevada and the state of Nevada. In the 2020 census, the population was 19,016. The county seat is Independence. Inyo County is ...

. In 1990, the reservation remained only in size and had a population of 199 tribal member residents. Despite their federal tribal recognition and diminutive 1982 reservation, the Timbisha still faced difficulty and conflict with the Death Valley National Park's

in regaining more of their ancestral lands within the Park. After much tribal effort, federal politics, and mutual compromise, the Timbisha Shoshone Homeland Act of 2000 finally returned of ancestral homelands to the Timbisha Shoshone tribe. Currently the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe consists of around 300 members, usually 50 of whom live at the Death Valley Indian Community at Furnace Creek within

. Many members spend the summers at Lone Pine in the

Owens Valley Owens Valley (Numic Numic is a branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family. It includes seven languages spoken by Native American peoples traditionally living in the Great Basin, Colorado River basin, Snake River basin, and southern Great Pl ...

to the west.

Tribal name and groups

The Timbisha Shoshone (Tümpisa Shoshoni) have been known as the California Shoshoni, Death Valley Shoshone,Thomas, et al, 280, Panamint Shoshone or simply Panamint. ″Coso, Koso, Koso Shoshone″ (probably a derivative of ''Koosotsi'' - ″People from

Coso Hot Springs Coso Hot Springs is a hot spring complex in the Coso Volcanic Field in the Mojave Desert of Inyo County, California. The Springs are on the National Register of Historic Places. Geography The Coso Hot Springs lie within the boundaries of the ...

area″, the name of one local group of the Little Lake Band), once commonly used, was dropped in favor of Timbisha. The Timbisha of Death Valley called themselves Nümü Tümpisattsi (″Death Valley People″; literally: ″People from the Place of red ochre (face) paint)″) after the locative term for

which was named after an important

red ochre Ochre ( ; , ), or ocher in American English, is a natural clay earth pigment, a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. It ranges in colour from yellow to deep orange or brown. It is also the name of the colours produced ...

source for paint that can be made from a type of

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

found in the Golden Valley a little south of

known as "''Tümpisa", Tümpisakka, Tümpisakkatün''" (''Tümpisa'' - "rock (ochre) paint" - from ''tün/tümpin'' - ″rock, stone″ plus ''pisappüh/pisappin'' - ″red ochre, red (face) paint)″ + locative postposition ''-ka'' - ″at, on" + nominal suffix - ''tün''). Sometimes they used even ''Tsakwatan Tükkatün'' (″

Chuckwalla Chuckwallas are lizards found primarily in arid regions of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. Some are found on coastal islands. The six species of chuckwallas are all placed within the genus ''Sauromalus''; they are part of t ...

Eaters″) as a self designation (actually pejorative term which is a loan translation from the

Mono people The Mono ( ) are a Native American people who traditionally live in the central Sierra Nevada, the Eastern Sierra (generally south of Bridgeport), the Mono Basin, and adjacent areas of the Great Basin. The Eastern mono is often grouped under th ...

for the Timbisha Shoshone). However, they simply called themselves Nümü ("Person" or ″People″). The Kawaiisu (and other Indian tribes south of Timbisha territory) were known as ''Mukunnümü'' (″

Hummingbird Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the biological family Trochilidae. With about 361 species and 113 genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but the vast majority of the species are found in the tropics aro ...

people″), their northern neighbors, the Eastern Mono (Owens Valley Paiute) were called ''Kwinawetün'' ("north place people"), the

Western Mono The Mono ( ) are a Native American people who traditionally live in the central Sierra Nevada, the Eastern Sierra (generally south of Bridgeport), the Mono Basin, and adjacent areas of the Great Basin. The Eastern mono is often grouped under th ...

beyond the Sierra Nevada crest to the northwest were called ''Panawe'' ("western people"), and their direct western neighbors, the

Tübatulabal The Tübatulabal are an indigenous people of Kern River Valley in the Sierra Nevada range of California. They may have been the first people to make this area their permanent home. Today many of them are enrolled in the Tule River Indian Tribe. ...

were known as ''Waapi(ttsi)'' ("enemy"). The

Yokuts The Yokuts (previously known as MariposasPowell, 1891:90–91.) are an ethnic group of Native Americans native to central California. Before European contact, the Yokuts consisted of up to 60 tribes speaking several related languages. ''Yokuts ...

(and other Indian tribes on the western side of the Sierras) were known as ''Toyapittam maanangkwa nümü'' ("people on the other (western) side of Sierras"). Their

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

and

Northern Shoshone Northern Shoshone are Shoshone of the Snake River Plain of southern Idaho and the northeast of the Great Basin where Idaho, Wyoming and Utah meet. They are culturally affiliated with the Bannock people and are in the Great Basin classification ...

kin were called ''Sosoniammü Kwinawen (Kuinawen) Nangkwatün Nümü'' ("Shoshoni speaking northwards people"). In the ''Indian Entities Recognized and Eligible To Receive Services From the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs'' periodically listed in the

Federal Register The ''Federal Register'' (FR or sometimes Fed. Reg.) is the official journal of the federal government of the United States that contains government agency rules, proposed rules, and public notices. It is published every weekday, except on feder ...

, their name is presented as "Timbi-Sha", but this is a typographical error and ungrammatical in Timbisha. The tribe never hyphenates its name. Both the California Desert Protection Act and the Timbisha Shoshone Homeland Act spell their name correctly. The tribe has a website with photographs, history and historical documents, starting with its 1863 treaty. Tribal government has offices in Bishop, CA. A large collection of baskets made by tribal members is in the Eastern California Museum in Independence, CA.

Historic Timbisha band districts or groups

Harold Driver recorded two Timbisha subgroups in Death Valley, the ″o'hya″ and the ″tu'mbica″ in 1937.

distinguished Timbisha Shoshone (in northern Death Valley) from the

Kawaiisu The Kawaiisu (pronounced: ″ka-wai-ah-soo″) are a Native Californian ethnic group in the United States who live in the Tehachapi Valley and to the north across the Tehachapi Pass in the southern Sierra Nevada, toward Lake Isabella and Walker ...

(in southern Death Valley), both are Numic-speaking peoples but of different branches (Western: Timbisha; Southern: Kawaiisu) which inhibited

mutual intelligibility In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between languages or dialects in which speakers of different but related varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. It is sometimes used as an ...

. Julian Steward identified four ″districts″ with bands (''süüpantün'') each led by a headmen or ''pokwinapi'', made up of several family groups (''nanümü'', pl: ''nanümüppü'') each, were traditionally linked by economic and kinship relationship (the highest population of the Timbisha was in the Little Lake Band area). The "districts" were commonly named after the most important village (''katükkatün'') that characterized the area (''kantün'' - "possessing, characterized by special village) and the bands were also named after the village name they occupied (''-tsi'' - "people of such a place"); therefore the family groups living at the ''"Ko'on"'' village were known as ''"Ko'ontsi"'' ("People at the village Ko'on") and their "district" therefore was called ''"Ko'ongkatün"'' (Ko'on + kantün - "possessing, characterized by" the village Ko'on, i.e. Saline Valley People). * Little Lake Band / Papunna/Pupunna Band ("pool, pond, i.e. litte lake", with some local groups living at Indian Gardens, Coso Hot Springs,

(located immediately south of dry lake

Owens Lake Owens Lake is a mostly dry lake in the Owens Valley on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada in Inyo County, California. It is about south of Lone Pine, California. Unlike most dry lakes in the Basin and Range Province that have been dry for th ...

, called ''Pattsiatta'' - "potash, soda ash") including the Upper Centennial Springs (''Tsianapatün'') and Lower Centennial Springs (''Tsiapaikwasi''), at springs south of

Darwin, California Darwin is an unincorporated mining community in Inyo County, California, United States. It is located southeast of Keeler, at an elevation of . The population was 43 at the 2010 census, down from 54 at the 2000 census. History It is named a ...

(''Tawinni''), and in

Argus Range The Argus Range is a mountain range located in Inyo County, California, southeast of the town of Darwin, California, Darwin. The range forms the western boundary of Panamint Valley, and the northwestern boundary of Searles Valley. The Coso Range i ...

(''Tüntapun''), most of their territory was taken over by the

Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station (NAWS) China Lake is a large military installation in California that supports the research, testing and evaluation programs of the United States Navy. It is part of Navy Region Southwest under Commander, Navy Installat ...

; southwestern band) ** Kuhwitsi (″People from Little Lake area″) ** Koosotsi or Muattantsi (″People from

area″, this traditional cultural and healing ritual site was either known as ''Kooso'' or ''Muattan(g Ka)'') ** Pakkwasitsi (″People of Pakkwasi, i.e.

Olancha, California Olancha (Timbisha: ''Pakwa' si'') is a census designated place in Inyo County of the U.S. state of California. Olancha is located on U.S. Route 395 in California, south-southeast of Independence, at an elevation of 3658 feet (1115 m). As of the ...

area″, just south of Owens Lake) *

Band / Ko'ongkatün Band (with some local groups living from the

Inyo Mountains The Inyo Mountains are a short mountain range east of the Sierra Nevada in eastern California in the United States. The range separates the Owens Valley to the west from Saline Valley to the east, extending for approximately south-southeast fro ...

(''Nününoppüh'') in the west, to Saline Valley,

Saline Range The Saline Range is a mountain range in Inyo County, California, within Death Valley National Park. Geography The Saline Range is to the northwest of Death Valley and frames the eastern side of the Saline Valley. The Inyo Mountains form the weste ...

, Eureka Valley,

Nelson Range The Nelson Range is a subrange of the Selkirk Mountains in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia, Canada. It is located south of the west arm of Kootenay Lake between the Salmo (W) and Kootenay Rivers (E) and also to the west of the south ar ...

, and

Last Chance Range The Last Chance Range of California is located near the Nevada state line in eastern Inyo County in the United States. The range lies in a generally north–south direction, and stretches for more than 30 miles. The mountains lie to the northwes ...

to the east; northwestern band) ** Ko'ontsi (″People of Ko'ongkatün, i.e. Saline Valley, named after the village ''Ko'on'', NW of Death Valley) ** Pawüntsitsi (″People of Pawü(n)tsi, i.e. high country between Saline and Eureka Valleys, with the important water source ''Wongko Paa'', i.e. Waucoba Spring in

Waucoba Mountain Waucoba Mountain with an elevation of is the highest peak in the Inyo Mountains of eastern California. It is in the Inyo Mountains Wilderness and the Inyo National Forest. It has a clean prominence of . "Waucoba" is a name derived from a Native ...

(''Wongkotoya(pi)'' - ″mountain with a lot of pine (tall timber)″) northwest of Saline Valley, which is also known as ''Isam Paa'') ** Siikaitsi or Siikai Nümü ("People of Siikai, i.e. from Hunter Mountain in the Cottonwood Mountains") ** Tuhutsi (″People from Tuhu, i.e. Goldbelt Spring area in Cottonwood Canyon uplands″) ** Napatüntsi (″People from Napatün, i.e. Cottonwood Canyon area west of Death Valley") *

Band / Haüttangkatün Nookompin Band(with some local groups from Panamint Valley north of

eastward to Panamint Range; central band) ** Haüttantsi ("People of Haüttangkatün, i.e. Warm Springs and Indian Ranch area of Panamint Valley", named after the village ''Haüttan'') ** Kaikottantsi (″People of Kaikottin, i.e.

Panamint Range The Panamint Range is a short rugged fault-block mountain range in the northern Mojave Desert, within Death Valley National Park in Inyo County, eastern California. Dr. Darwin French is credited as applying the term Panamint in 1860 during his s ...

″) ** Siümpüttsi (″People of Siümpüttsi, i.e. the

Telescope Peak Telescope Peak is the highest point within Death Valley National Park, in the U.S. state of California. It is also the highest point of the Panamint Range, and lies in Inyo County. From atop this desert mountain one can see for over one hundred m ...

area in the Panamint Range″, the Telescope Peak was also known as ''Mukutoya'') ** Süünapatüntsi (″People from Süünapatün, i.e. Wild Rose Canyon in Panamint Valley″, with the important spring named ''Kantapettsi'') ** Omatsi (″People from Omakatün, i.e. Trona, California area in

Searles Valley Searles Valley is a valley in the northern Mojave Desert of California, with the northern half in Inyo County and the southern half in San Bernardino County, California, United States. Searles Valley is located between the Argus Range to the wes ...

", Trona is now called ''Toona'') *

Band / Tümpisakka(tün) Band (with some local groups from Death Valley north of

west to

Funeral Mountains The Funeral Mountains are a short, arid mountain range in the United States along the California-Nevada border approximately 100 mi (160 km) west of Las Vegas. The mountains are considered a subrange of the Amargosa Range that form the ...

and

Amargosa Range The Amargosa Range is a mountain range in Inyo County, California and Nye County, Nevada. The range runs along most of the eastern side of California's Death Valley, separating it from Nevada's Amargosa Desert. The U-shaped Amargosa River flows ...

Amargosa Valley The Amargosa Valley is the valley through which the Amargosa River flows south, in Nye County, southwestern Nevada and Inyo County in the state of California. The south end is alternately called the "Amargosa River Valley'" or the "Tecopa Valley." ...

around

Beatty, Nevada Beatty ( ) is an unincorporated town along the Amargosa River in Nye County in the U.S. state of Nevada. U.S. Route 95 runs through the town, which lies between Tonopah, about to the north and Las Vegas, about to the southeast. State Route 37 ...

as well northwest to Grapevine Mountains; eastern band) ** Tümpisattsi (″People of Tümpisakkatün″, i.e. of Furnace Creek and Death Valley; Harold Driver's ''″tu'mbica″'') ** Naitipanittsi (″People of Naitipani, i.e. Lida Springs, Nevada") ** Koa Panawe ("People of Koa, i.e.

Silver Peak Range The Silver Peak Range is a mountain range in southwest Esmeralda County, Nevada, United States. Geography The Range forms the east and southeast side of Fish Lake Valley The Fish Lake Valley is a longNevada, DeLorme Atlas & Gazetteer, c 2010 ...

near

Lida, Nevada Lida, Nevada is a small ghost town in Esmeralda County, Nevada, near the border with California. The GNIS The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is a database of name and locative information about more than two million physical and c ...

", mixed Timbisha-Northern Paiute group) ** Ohyüttsi ("People of Ohyü", i.e. Mesquite Flats north of Stove Pipe Wells (''Tukummuttun'', former name: Surveyors Well)" in northern Death Valley; Harold Driver's ''″o'hya″'') ** Maahunuttsi ("People of Maahunu", i.e. from Grapevine Canyon") ** Okwakaittsi ("People of Okwakai", i.e. from

Grapevine Mountains The Grapevine Mountains are a mountain range located along the border of Inyo County, California and Nye County, Nevada in the United States. The mountain range is about long and lies in a northwest-southeasterly direction along the Nevada-Califor ...

area")

References

*Hinton, Leanne. ''Flutes of Fire''. Berkeley, CA: Heyday Books, 1994. . *Miller, Mark Edwin. ''Forgotten Tribes: Unrecognized Indians and the Federal Acknowledgment Process''. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2004. *Miller, Wick R. "Numic Languages." d'Azevedo, Warren L., Volume Editor. ''

Handbook of North American Indians The ''Handbook of North American Indians'' is a series of edited scholarly and reference volumes in Native American studies, published by the Smithsonian Institution beginning in 1978. Planning for the handbook series began in the late 1960s and ...

, Volume 11: Great Basin.'' Washington, DC:

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

, 1986. . * Pritzker, Barry M. ''A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples.'' Oxford:

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 2000. . * Thomas, David Hurst, Lorann S. A. Pendleton, and Stephen C. Cappannari. "Western Shoshone." d'Azevedo, Warren L., Volume Editor. ''

, Volume 11: Great Basin.'' Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1986. .

External links

Timbisha Shoshone Tribe
official website
"Back to Life", Carl Hall, ''San Francisco Chronicle'', 7/11/99PBS Death Valley: Life Blooms (features a segment about the Timbisha people and an interview with tribal elder Pauline Esteves)"Tribe Can Again Call Death Valley Home", "William Booth", "Washington Post", 1/1/2001 - Article shown in PBS "Life Blooms" program
{{authority control Death Valley Native American tribes in California Inyo County, California Federally recognized tribes in the United States Native American tribes in Nevada