Puha Flows from It: The Cultural Landscape Study of the Spring Mountains

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Author
Stoffle, Richard W.
Chmara-Huff, Fletcher
Van Vlack, Kathleen
Toupal, Rebecca
Affiliation
Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology, University of Arizona
Issue Date
2004-02
Keywords
Southern Paiutes
Cultural Landscapes
Nevada
Sacred Sites

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Collection Information
This item is part of the Richard Stoffle Collection. It was digitized from a physical copy provided by Richard Stoffle, Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology, School of Anthropology at the University of Arizona. For more information about items in this collection, please email Special Collections, askspecialcollections@u.library.arizona.edu.
Publisher
Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology, University of Arizona
Description
To the Southern Paiutes, the Spring Mountains are the center of Creation. They believe that they, as a people, were created in these mountains at the beginning of time. Southern Paiutes believe that the Spring Mountains constitute a living being that has a zoomorphic shape. This being has a head which is found at the northern end of the range at Mount Sterling, a tail located at Mount Potosi, and in the center at Mount Charleston, a womb which created life. Mount Charleston is the geographic and cultural center of the Spring Mountains. The Spring Mountains are located within the traditional Pahrump and Las Vegas districts of the Southern Paiute Nation. The mountains, today, serve as a boundary between the cities of Las Vegas and Pahrump, Nevada. In 2003, the United States Forest Service (USFS) funded an applied ethnographic study that focused on a cultural landscape assessment of the Spring Mountain National Recreation Area, Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. The project examined the traditional, religious, and cultural values of Southern Paiute people inherent in the Spring Mountains of southern Nevada. The study design required that Richard Stoffle and his research team from the Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology work with tribal representatives to prepare a map through a rapid assessment to identify sites, areas, and landscapes that are of cultural and religious importance to the Southern Paiute people. The second task was to provide the USFS with an overview essay summarizing the ethnographic archival field notes and literature relevant to Southern Paiute cultural values of the Spring Mountains. The third task required field visits and interviews with tribal members that focused on the overall cultural importance of the Spring Mountains and individual places visited throughout the mountain range. This work served as the ethnographic core of the overall report and the basis for USFS management decisions and tribal consultation.
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