2. Geography and Climate From the Great Basin north into southern Canada, bounded on the west by the Coast Mountains and the Cascade Range and on the east by the Rocky Mountains. The northern Plateau is rather mountainous and is mostly covered by forests of pine and oak. The summers there are warm and the winters can be extremely cold, with considerable snow fall. In the southern Plateau, the winters are cold and the summers are hot. Southern Plateau relatively arid, covered by sagebrush and grasslands deer, moose, elk, caribou, bears, mountain sheep, pronghorn, a few bison, rabbits, rodents Most essential animal resource was salmon. Tubers, particularly camas, cous, wild carrot, wild onion and tiger lily. Willow and hemp provided material for basketry, housing, and tools.
3. Environment It encompassed the Columbian Plateau region of British Columbia between the coastal region of the province and the Rocky Mountains. Lived in an area of Canada that was dominated by the Rocky Mountains and their valleys. The territory of the Plateau people also included expanses of forests, and many natural waterways (rivers and lakes). Boreal forests, with mostly coniferous trees, dominated the landscape of the Plateau region. The three most important rivers in the area were the Thompson River, the Kootenay River and the Columbia River.
5. Roles Plateau society was egalitarian and communal in most respects, although men were the major decision makers. Within each village there were a number of chiefs or headmen who organized economic activities; eg, there was a salmon chief for fishing, and so on. Often it was the advice of the old people or the most experienced that was accepted.
6. Labour Men were responsible for hunting, trapping, fishing and manufacturing implements from bone, wood and stone, and also for warfare. Women's responsibilities included preparing food for meals and for winter storage, harvesting plants, maintaining the home and caring for small children. Those men who had acquired certain physical and spiritual abilities during their adolescent training became "professional" hunters of bear and mountain goat.
7. Religion Plateau peoples felt a deep connection with the inanimate beings that inhabited their environment. Everything around them was imbued with special powers, even rocks and trees. This spiritual relationship with nature permeated all aspects of daily life.
8. Shamans The most important religious leaders in Plateau culture were the Shamans. The Shamans had special powers to heal the sick, control the hunt, and predict the future They could do so by communicating with the spirit world.
9. Myths They had many myths and legends that were passed on through generations, mainly involving the creator known as 'Coyote'. The belief was that Coyote was responsible for bringing salmon up the river every spring and fall, and for transforming people into their present day form.
10. Adolescence Vigils During adolescence all Plateau people went alone on spiritual vigils. They fasted and prayed, in hopes that a guardian spirit would appear to them in a vision.
11. Festivals The Winter Guardian Spirit Dance, the major ceremony of most Plateau peoples in the US, was practised in Canada mainly by the Okanagan. The dance was likely celebrated in former times by the Shuswap, Thompson and Lillooet as well, although in a slightly different manner. After one or several nights of dancing and administering to the needs of the sick, the host or hostess presented the guests with gifts.
12. Art The paint was made out of red ochre pigments mixed with animal oil or fish eggs. There were paintings of human or animal forms, or spiritual figures. They wove baskets, blankets, mats, and clothing using goat's wool and bark. Carvings were made out of stone, bone or antler.
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14. Clothing The women of the Plateau region were responsible for making all the clothing for their families, which included dresses, leggings, shirts, jackets, and robes. They used tanned hides, grasses, and softened bark.
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16. Can be divided into the Northern Interior Salishianlanguages
17. The Athapascan languages of the Plateau region are part of the Northern Athapascan language groups, and are related to the Athapascan languages in the sub-arctic language groups.
19. Technology Canoes The Plateau people had access to many natural waterways. They built wooden dugout canoes called 'sturgeon-nosed' or 'ram-shaped' canoes. The shape was designed to keep water out of the canoe in rapids and large bodies of water, like lakes. These dugout canoes were made of either red cedar or cottonwood trees, or bark from pine or birch. While the lacing for the canoe was made out of deer, caribou, or moose hide.
20. Snow Shoes In winter, the Plateau people used snowshoes to travel through the deep snow. The rounder, 'bear paw' snowshoes were used to carry heavier loads
21. Housing The people of the Plateau region were semi-nomadic, meaning they moved around in search of food. Therefore, they needed shelters that were easy to take down and set up. They lived in one of three shelters, depending on the season: a pit house, a tipi, or a tule-mat lodge.
22. Pit House Pit houses were used mostly during the winter months, although some might have been used all year. A pit house was a shelter built mostly below ground with an entrance and ladder at the top. The walls and frame of the pit house were built with logs and sealed with dirt and grasses. The entrance into a pit house was usually via a ladder through a hole in the roof. However, some pit houses had entrances in the side of the roof. Several families lived in each pit house.
23. Tipi The summer shelter for the Plateau people was usually an above ground shelter such as a tipi or tule mat lodge. Plateau tipis were similar to the tipis built by their neighbours - the Plains people. The Plateau people built covered wooden frame tipis- like the Plains people. However, unlike the Plains people who covered their tipis with animal hides, the Plateau people mostly used tule (bulrush) reed mats.
24. Tule Mat Lodge The summer shelter for the Plateau people was usually an above ground shelter such as a tipi or tule mat lodge. They had a wooden frame, covered with mats of tule or other grass. Tule reeds were used in the construction of tipis and lodges, because they were strong, durable reeds that were readily available in the area.
25. Lean-tos 'Lean-tos' were temporary shelters built by the Plateau people. They were made out of poles and tule brush mats, similar to the construction of a tipi. However, they were built to lean against a solid frame, and were intended to be very temporary.
26. Fishing The Plateau people developed several methods for catching salmon and other fish. Normally salmon weirs (large traps) were set up in these public rivers to catch the salmon. The weirs would catch a large number of fish as they tried to swim upstream to spawn. In some areas where salmon was particularly abundant, the fish could be scooped from the water using a dip net or basket. Men also set up wooden platforms that hung out over the river and would use dip nets or spears to catch the fish.
27. Hunting The tools that the Plateau people used were made from bone (arrow heads), wood (nets and carvings), and stone (spears and cutting tools), and were decorated with carvings, copper, feathers, and beads. The Ktunaxa people sometimes used feathers and coloured cloth to decorate their spears.
28. Economy Food Were skilled hunters and fishers. Food came from local rivers and lakes. Men were responsible for fishing. Preferred hunting buffalo over fish. Salmon was most important source in the fall. Food was shared among villagers. Ate fish, elk, deer, caribou, carrots, onions, celery, parsnip, blueberries, camas, bitterroots, service berries, chokecherries, huckleberries and wild strawberries. They smoked and dried food for storage in the cold months.
29. Economy Trade Traded bison meat and hides. They exchanged goods, ideas and people for slavery. Trading with the Europeans brought diseases.
30. Politics and Governance Men made all decisions for their family There was no hierarchy. Berry areas were owned by some families or individuals and others needed permission to use the resource. Villages had one or several leaders/Chiefs, the Chief usually inherited the role from their father. Society was relatively democratic. Everyone had a say in major decisions. Some had a council of Elders who gave advice about community issues because they had more life experience and were considered very wise
31. War Plateau people were a generally peaceful culture Wars did occur but very rarely The most used weapons of warfare were ; spears, bow and arrows, knives and clubs During times of extended warfare villages would build stockades around their villages for added protection. The Plateau people also had a group of warriors which acted as "police" during the buffalo runs. Neighboring prairie cultures often borrowed these men for wars and conflicts.
