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Show The Nuwuvi The people who grew the haweave were the "Nuwuvi" or as they are called today, the Southern Paiutes. Their tribe is one of a large number of related Indian peoples who inhabited the western chains of the Rocky Mountains, the Colorado Plateau, and the Great Basin. Although culturally related to such tribes as the Shoshone, the Utes, and the Northern Paiutes, the Nuwuvi spoke a slightly different language and had their own separate cultural identity. They normally lived in peace with these surrounding tribes, for the Nuwuvi were a peaceful people who spent their days quietly following their ancient lifestyle. The Nuwuvi lifestyle was closely tied to the awe-inspiring land which surrounded them. They were a people of the land. Their lives were not only deeply involved in the cycles of nature, but were completely dependent on them. If one did not live in harmony with the surrounding world, nature could become hostile. If one did not know how to use what the land offered, one would not survive. The Nuwuvi knew these things. Most of all they knew that they loved and respected the earth and felt a deep kinship with all living things. They knew that tu-weap (the earth) would give them what they needed if they knew how to take it. The land of the Nuwuvi covered a large area of the Southwest. On the eastern edge was the Colorado River with its complex maze of red rock canyons. The Colorado is a mighty river, and its long, deep canyon separated most of the Nuwuvi from the Utes and Navajos to the east. Some Nuwuvi, however, did live along the San Juan River, near Navajo Creek, and around Moencopi Wash. All these areas were to the south and east of the Colorado River. The Colorado's tributaries on the west flow down from a series of high mountain plateaus, some of which still bear names given them by the Nuwuvi. Such is true of Kaiparowits, Kaibab, Paunsa-gunt, Markagunt, and Uinkaret Plateaus. The higher plateaus are covered with green forests which hide the large game which the 5 |