262 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BuU. 179 



rated, and diffusion from the Plains is in large part recent and supei*ficial. 

 [Ray, 1939, p. 145.] 



The refutation of Spinden's speculation on the peripheral nature 

 of Nez Perce and the other Plateau cultures was a matter of the appli- 

 cation of new data to the problem. Kroeber's concepts regarding the 

 Plateau stemmed partially from the lack of data and partially from 

 an undue emphasis on cultural attaimnents. 



If the impressions of early European visitors to the area can be 

 accepted, the people in the Plateau had physical and cultural traits 

 which distinguished them as a group; traits which set them apart 

 from the Northwest Coast, the Northern Great Basin, and the West- 

 ern Plains. Lewis and Clark, and Parker noticed these traits, and 

 commented on them long before anyone developed the concept of cul- 

 ture areas. The most outstanding of these traits, according to Parker 

 were: (1) nonsedentary life among the Plateau people as opposed to 

 the coast; (2) liigh standard of living as opposed to the poverty of 

 the Basin Shoshoni; and (3) general cleanliness and health as op- 

 posed to both Basin and Coast (Parker, 1845, pp. 130-140) . The eco- 

 nomic pursuits of fishing and gathering were sufficient for Parker to 

 differentiate between the Plateau and the Plains Indians. These and 

 other Europeans also remarked on the uniformity of dress, tools, eco- 

 nomic pursuits, and religion. 



With the information now available it should be clear that the 

 Plateau in early historic times was a distinct culture area. It had 

 uniformity of both climatic and cultural traits and it contrasted with 

 adjacent areas. 



The homogeneous state of Plateau culture in the early liistoric pe- 

 riod must also have existed in the late prehistoric period. As wide- 

 spread and identical as were the patterns of political and social organ- 

 ization, it is impossible to conceive of a situation any different only a 

 few years earlier. It is true that in a hundred years the Plains Area 

 changed into a relatively homogeneous culture area, but that area 

 was unified by the horse, the gun, and Plains-type warfare. In the 

 Plateau, pacifism was the ideal, and no such unifying force could 

 have existed. Without the influence of Plains traits, the Plateau in 

 the late prehistoric period was certainly more clearly a culture area 

 than it was in the early liistoric period. 



If, by definition, a culture area should have homogeneity of culture 

 and climate, as well as a distinct culture history, the Plateau certainly 

 qualifies. The excavations made by River Basin Surveys demon- 

 strated how the Indians of one region progressed from a relatively 

 simple hunting and gathering economy to one far more complex. 

 During this period, the inventory of material culture gi-ew by addi- 

 tion and diversification, and a superior adjustment to the environment 



