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[QUOTE]Originally posted by the lioness,: [QB] http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2011/02/04/native-americans-who-found-life-death-valley-9471 So when—and how—did the Timbisha Shoshone not only live here, but thrive? Linguistic evidence indicates that they moved to what is now called Death Valley in 900 A.D. They survived by coaxing the specific bounty that existed in and around the valley and by being ruthlessly logical: When it got too hot, they moved to cooler country. They had to plan seasons ahead, managing a terrain the gold seekers and borax miners of the mid-19th century found so deadly they changed its name to its current dark moniker from Tümpisa, which means “rock paint,” referring to the clay in the valley they made into red ochre paint. The Timbisha spent the months preceding winter gathering non-perishables such as pine nuts, mesquite beans and seeds. Winter in the valley is relatively mild, which allowed them to live in modest conical brush houses, allowing breezes to move through the arrow weed walls. They usually built these homes near mesquite groves, which were natural habitats for small game animals and birds that they hunted to round out their diet. The mesquite trees were crucial to the Timbisha; they harvested the tree’s beans in winter. These forbidding environs made them fairly safe from Mojaves, known to attack the Arizona and Southern California tribes during the winter months. In the summer, when the heat was untenable for humans, the Timbisha moved to cooler elevations—the Grapevine Mountains to the northeast or the Panamint Range in the west. They foraged for berries, roots, seeds and pine nuts. They hunted mule deer, yellow-bellied marmot, bighorn sheep, black-tailed jackrabbit, chuckwalla and other small game. They stayed in the mountains until the first snowfall, then returned to their winter homes in the valley. Like other Great Basin tribes, they knew they had to set fire to scrub vegetation in order to clean riparian areas of unwanted plants and stimulate the growth of others, like tobacco, and to increase seed production. They pruned the low branches of the vital mesquite and pinion pine trees so their beans would be easier to harvest. The pruning also protected the mesquite grove from the constant blowing sand, which would collect around low-hanging limbs and form dunes that killed the beans. They pinched the new growth at the tips of each pinion pine branch to stimulate more cone production. ________________________________________ http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s1590192.htm Aboriginal people built water tunnels Judy Skatssoon ABC Science Online Indigenous Australians dug underground water reservoirs that helped them live on one of the world's driest continents for tens of thousands of years, new research shows. The study, which is the first of its kind, indicates Aboriginal people had extensive knowledge of the groundwater system, says hydrogeologist Brad Moggridge, knowledge that is still held today. Some 70% of the continent is covered by desert or semi-arid land, which meant its original inhabitants needed to know how to find and manage this resource if they were to survive. "Aboriginal people survived on one of the driest continents for thousands and thousands of years," says Brad Moggridge, who is from Kamilaroi country in northern New South Wales. "Without water you die. They managed that water sustainably." Moggridge, currently a principal policy officer in the New South Wales Department of Environment and Conservation, did his research as part of a Masters degree at the University of Technology, Sydney. He based his work on oral histories, Dreamtime stories, rock art, artefacts and ceremonial body painting as well as written accounts by white missionaries, surveyors, settlers, anthropologists and explorers. Managing scant resources Moggridge says Indigenous Australians channelled and filtered their water, covering it to avoid contamination and evaporation. They also created wells and tunnel reservoirs. "Groundwater was accessed through natural springs or people used to dig tunnels to access it," he says. "Sometimes they'd dig till they found the water and then they'd build a system so they could access the water. Sometimes they've go fairly deep and people would slither down there and get their water." Aboriginal people also used terrain, birdlife, vegetation and animals as markers for water, Moggridge says. For example, they followed dingos to rock pools and waterholes while ants led them to subterranean reservoirs. "They used the landscape," he says. "For example, you're in a dry area and all of a sudden there's a large number of ghost gums, so you'd think there must be some groundwater." The Dreamtime Aboriginal people's understanding of their groundwater system permeates Dreamtime stories, Moggridge says. For example, the rainbow serpent is a key symbol of creation but its journey from underground to the surface also represents groundwater rising to the top via springs. Moggridge says European settlers owed their subsequent knowledge of groundwater to local tribes and trackers, and even much of Australia's modern road system is based on water sources identified by the original inhabitants. "A lot of the old roads in New South Wales are based on Aboriginal walking tracks ... and their water supply would have been along the way," he says. The Desert Knowledge CRC is also trying to link traditional knowledge with science in terms of water management in central Australia, home to numerous remote Indigenous communities. Current projects include looking at the cultural values of water, a spokesperson says. ____________________________ Clothing for the Desert There's a reason that sheiks in places like Saudi Arabia are known for wearing hoods and robes -- the loose fitting clothing help keep a body cool, especially when walking and perspiring. Though some sheiks are known for wearing white, the reality is that black robes make for the best clothing for traveling through a hot desert. Case in point: The Bedouin, a tribe of Arabic desert nomads, wear black. Though the color white does reflect sunlight, it also reflects your body heat right back at your body. Black on the other hand absorbs sunlight, but it also absorbs your body heat. In the end, with a loosely worn robe and hood, black overall is a better color to wear in the desert than white. 1) To prepare for a journey on foot across a desert, have a black robe on hand (preferably wool, see below), folded in your pack. Where do you get a black robe for an extreme survival scenario that takes you into a barren, hot desert? The same place that Arabs living in the U.S. do -- Arabic stores and suppliers. 2) If conditions get hot, the desert too vast, put on this robe and survive. See: Summer Science: Clothes Keep You Cool, More Or Less. Though the author here points out that when a thick black Bedouin robe can't be had, light-colored, light weight clothes are the second choice. A trek on foot across a hot desert though is a lot like a trek across the Yukon or even Siberia in the dead of winter -- it is dangerous, the weather and terrain can kill you if you're not prepared. If you plan on crossing a desert, go out of your way to be prepared. Failure to properly plan may easily cost you your life. Things to Know About Water One thing that's interesting to note about the Bedouin -- they're capable of living off a single liter of water a day in the desert. Most likely their bodies have adapted as they've aged. For the rest of us not accustomed to life in harsh desert, our goal for water should be a gallon or more a day, in order to stay well hydrated and ward off heat stroke. Historical Maps May Reveal Locations of Water in the Desert What we learn from the Desert Indians (Native Americans in the southwest United States) is that a path or road through the desert can be a lot like a path or road through the mountains -- realize that indigenous people (like the Desert Indians crossing through the Mojave Desert) may have established routes and places marked on maps where water can be found. Locate Routes of Indigenous People Where ever you are in the world, find out the routes that indigenous people from that area used to cross expanses of barren and dry desert or desert mountains, and get to know these desert routes well. See: Secrets of Ancient Bedouin Navigation and [DOC] Southern Paiute - Chemehuevi Trails Across the Mojave Desert In a worst case scenario, remember what you learned above -- if you're on the ground and need to find water, study the terrain; look for areas of dark green vegetation; here you're looking for a dry stream bed; follow that stream bed until it bends; look for water (in the ground) on the outside bend -- that is where gravity would pull the most water when that stream was running above ground (following a rare rain, for example) and where an underground trickle may still exist. Dig seeps, build solar stills and capture water from condensation sources. (To learn how to dig seeps, build solar stills, and other methods for finding water, see: Aim to Drink More Than a Gallon of Water a Day in the Desert In extreme temperatures the body can require more than a gallon of water a day. Desert people like the Bedouin shepherded animals to fresh pastures whenever grazing lands were exhausted. They moved frequently and yet survived in a harsh environment with little water to be found. Life required knowing where water could be found (for the Bedouin it was often wells that had been dug) and plotting routes based on water locations. Finally, a large goat skin may have been all a Bedouin nomad had to carry water in. Whatever you use to carry water in the desert, be sure it's large enough to carry enough water to keep you hydrated until you can reach the next location to replenish water. When it comes to finding water in the desert, the questions to ask are: How much water can I carry before setting out? What routes can I take and where does water exist along these routes? When the Desert is Too Hot Travel at Night Finding Food in the Desert The hotter and more barren the desert -- like the Sahara Desert in North Africa -- the less likely it is that you're going to find anything edible. Choose routes on maps that show the greatest amount of vegetation, as well as paths that follow or cross shallow crevices (you don't want a route that passes deep crevices -- those could turn out to be cliffs and canyons; make sure you know how to read elevation changes on a map before setting out across a desert you're not familiar with). By choosing routes that pass over shallow crevices and near dark green vegetation you're increasing your chances of finding edible wildlife. In the desert that is likely to be snakes, reptiles, and scorpions, but in some areas could include rabbits and other small mammals and even birds and insects like ants and centipedes. Tip: If you're short on water, avoid eating food. Digestion will use up your body's water stores -- which you need right now to keep your brain and internal organs functioning. [/QB][/QUOTE]
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