The Shoshoni tribe started out in the Basin splitting into two major groups which are the Western side and the Northern side. The Western tribe had little contact with the outside world and the Western Shoshoni show the influence of the Plains and Plateau. The parenting of the tribe was interesting as the mother would take care of the child until the crawling stage then the older sister takes care of the child and the grandmother tended to the child’s education. Later on the father would take more interest in the child, especially if the child was male. If the child was a girl, the baby was still thought to be a blessing because the parents knew that someday she would attract a mate who would help the family in it’s never-ending quest for food.
Since food was hard to come by, certain medicine men possessed the power to charm antelope, their only big game except sheep. They also used bows, arrows, lances, and shields to hunt game. They would try to hunt buffalo, elk, deer and other game even thought it was hard to come by. When they did come by big game they would try to trade there food for hides, knives, awls, rifles, and ammunition. In the summer, the Shoshoni wore breechcloth or green scum from nearby water holes. They made double-sided aprons from materials they found in the woods. In the winter, men and women alike wore a woven garment of strips of rabbit skins. It took about forty rabbits for a single robe, so the one who could complete covering their entire body was fortunate. Those having only a few would use them to wrap their feet and legs.
Shimkin, Demitri Boris, Childhood and Development among the Wind, Los Angeles, 1916.
Dorn, Edward, The Shoshoneans, New York, 1966.