Social Distinctions

• Early Shoshones valued tribal chiefs, midwives, traders and shamans able to cure ills and communicate with spirits; all received economic rewards for their success. The Shoshone language further reveals the importance of terms such as chief, trading partner, servant, rich and poor to mark social distinctions. At the top of the social hierarchy stood the head chief and shaman, an older or middle-aged man who controlled group decisions about warfare, marches and hunts.
  
  

Male Dominance

• Clearly, men dominated women both in leadership roles and in marriage arrangements. Occasionally, an older man would request permission to marry a newborn female, but parents could refuse him for lack of character or ability to provide. Often an older man would send a gift -- such as a horse, skins or food -- to repay parents for their loss of the daughter's services. Some reports claim there was a practice of polygyny, marriage to several wives but actual records from 1850 to 1930, however, show only three cases. Older men could earn status from the proliferation and success of their wives, children and grandchildren.
  
  

Female Roles

• Although females played subordinate roles, they could earn status. At menarche, young girls separated from younger playmates and faced isolation in menstrual huts. At this point, parents or related caregivers typically arranged marriages. Young married women served vital functions in early Shoshone society as plant gatherers and providers of household necessities. Their individual successes combined with the success of their husbands earned them status. In later life, a woman gained status from her skill as a midwife or gambler. A widow, however, lost not only status but also her possessions.
  
  

Children's Roles

• Parents expected their children to work hard, running errands and caring for siblings, animals and grandparents. As important members of the kin, children received love, not physical abuse. Observing how their elders commanded respect, children learned to honor their parents and grandparents. In turn, the Shoshone expected the elderly to transmit legends and cultural traditions to children through storytelling. When early Shoshone tribes gathered during the winter, storytelling emerged as a major social pastime, critical to their cohesion because they had no written records. Typically, children developed deep bonds with all family members.