FOUR DIRECTIONS INSTITUTE

Koso

 

Ethnie: KOSO (COSO)
Language: Central Numic
Family: Numic
Stock: Uto-Aztecan
Phylum: Aztec-Tanoan
Macro-Culture: Great Basin
Speakers 20      1998 J. McLaughlin
     The Koso were a nomadic hunter/gatherer tribe. They ranged over the sparsely populated barren country between the Sierras and the Nevada state line from Owens Lake south to the Panamint Mountains.  They are closely related to the Western Shoshoni and many descendants are enumerated among the Western Shoshone, especially the Timbisha Shoshone of Death Valley and Bishop, California.   Their remote territory minimized their contact with Whites. As a result, little of their history is recorded.
Aboriginal Locations
4 villages
Present Locations
LONE PINE RESERVATION, Lone Pine
TIMBISHA SHOSHONE TRIBE, Bishop and Death Valley
Year History
1825 Jedediah Smith passed through area
1849 Death Valley Party passed entered territory
1855 Territory surveyed by Von Schmidt
1860 Silver discovered in Coso Mountains
1882 Borax trade began
Year Population Source
1700 150 NAHDB calculation
1800 150 NAHDB calculation
1883 150 Kroeber
1891 100 Kroeber
1900 100 NAHDB calculation
2000 100 NAHDB calculation
Other speakers of the same language:

Comanche OK, Northern Shoshoni ID WY, Western Shoshoni CA NV
Koso Sites
Coso Painted Style Pictographs  http://www.petroglyphs.us/article_the_Coso_Painted_Style_pictographs.htm
Dating Rock Drawings of the Coso Range  http://www.petroglyphs.us/article_dating_coso_projectile_point_petroglyphs.htm
Early Peoples of the Mojave Desert  http://www.blm.gov/education/00_resources/articles/mojave/mojaveposterback1a.html
Guided Tour of Coso Rock Art  http://www.farwestern.com/rockart
Indian Wells Valley  http://www.cirhm.org/indian_wells/index.asp
Koso/Panamint Indians of the Mojave Desert  http://mojavedesert.net/koso-indians/
Koso -SFSU Narrative  http://bss.sfsu.edu/calstudies/NativeWebPages/koso.html
Panamint Language  http://www.native-languages.org/panamint.htm
Panamint Language  http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=PAR
Panamint Linguistic Lineage  http://www.ethnologue.com/show_lang_family.asp?code=PAR
The Race to Koso Hot Springs  http://www.sacred-texts.com/nam/ca/wsm/wsm15.htm
Relationships of Native American Cultures to the Death Valley Area  http://www.nps.gov/moja/devaplan/affntv.htm
Relationship of Native American Cultures to NEMO Lands  http://www.nps.gov/moja/mojaplan/mojaaffn.htm

Last updated 07/20/07  Copyright © 2007 by Four Directions Press