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Show The Nuwuvi 13 altitudes even though most hunting was done in the fall. Small game like rabbits also became an important survival food at this time. Later in the spring or early summer was the time to till and sow the farmlands. The fields were carefully prepared: brush was burned, roots were dug out; and the ground was tilled and watered before planting. Corn, squash, beans, pumpkins, and sunflowers were grown. There were four different colors of corn-white, blue, yellow, and red. Some of each color were saved from the last year's crop. The crops usually were planted in rows, and holes were made for the seeds with a specially shaped stick whose end was flattened like a shovel. It is likely that the Nuwuvi used a method of irrigation like that of the Pueblo Indians. Corn was planted in small mounds,3 and diverted water was let to flow into the fields. One known irrigation ditch was a half-mile long, four feet wide and four feet deep, and had been dug through a gravel bed by using only wooden spades. A nearby dam was constructed of logs and brushwood and conveyed the water toward the farm.4 Some of the Nuwuvi, especially those living in drier regions away from rivers, used another method of watering crops. Rather than planting in rows, pits about three feet across and six inches deep were dug. The plants were watered by allowing rain water to collect and by bringing water from springs. Nuwuvi farmed along streams such as the Virgin, the Santa Clara, Ash Creek, Beaver Dam Wash, and the Muddy River, as well as at numerous springs. There is also evidence that farming techniques and crops used by the Nuwuvi spread to other peoples living to the north in Death Valley and Steptoe Valley.' The Nuwuvi left their farms after planting time to go out gathering wild plant life, and they returned after the crops had sprouted and the farms needed weeding and tending. The families traveled the valleys of their band's land gathering seeds, roots and other edible plant parts. They prayed and talked wherever they went, asking the land, the plants, or the animals for whatever they took, and always leaving portions as offerings of gratitude. The women carried their gathering and cooking implements in large conical shaped baskets called "burden baskets," which were worn on the back. Although some of the Nuwuvi made pottery, most of their domestic objects were various forms of basketry. The |
