Landscape Is Alive: Nuwuvi Pilgrimage and Power Places in Nevada

Abstract

Cultural landscapes are defined at Creation, according to the beliefs of the Nuwuvi (Paiute) and Newe (Shoshone peoples). After Creation, the Native people came to understand the purpose of living landscapes and special places within them. During this time, some places that were designated as essential parts of landscapes at Creation had been inscribed by Native people with peckings and paintings and honored with offerings. Special spiritual places within the landscape were networked like the pearls on a string to produce the foundation of pilgrimage trails. This is an analysis of one such valley landscape in southern Nevada, USA and a pilgrimage trail extending between the Pahranagat Valley and the Corn Creek oasis at the foot of the Paiute Origin place called Nuvagantu (Spring Mountains). Tribal representatives from 18 consulting tribes participated in a special environmental impact assessment to explain this landscape, its components, and potential impacts that could derive from it being removed from a wildlife refuge to become a part of a military land and air use area.

Keywords

• living cultural landscapes
• great basin pilgrimage trails
• Southern Paiute
• Western Shoshone
• cultural heritage
• environmental impact assessment