A Newe Perspective of Lava Tube Caves in Southern Idaho: Exploring Tribal and Archaeological Significance

Taylor  Kay Haskett

Archaeology in southern Idaho has neglected integrating Indigenous knowledge to interpret lava tube caves during the Medieval Warm Period on the Eastern Snake River Plain. Prior research has investigated the use of Sosonee Panakwate Newe Tempi Gahni and Baker Cave III through the lens of Western science. This research investigates on how to braid Indigenous Knowledge through semi-structured interviews with Shoshone-Bannock tribal elders coupled with contemporary archaeological methods. These methods include using zooarchaeological analysis and x-ray fluorescence source analysis of obsidian tools to compare Sosonee Panakwate Newe Tempi Gahni and Baker Cave III to obtain a holistic understanding of precontact Newe lifeways in the lava tube caves. Results suggested that these two lava tube caves were used for different purposes. Sosonee Panakwate Newe Tempi Gahni was repeatedly occupied over the course of 400 years and represents a residential camp with a variety of first foods consumed and the nearest obsidian source; Big Southern Butte obsidian represented majority of the obsidian tools at this cave. While Baker Cave III supports previous research suggesting the site is a bison butchering locality in the late winter and/or early spring and was occupied for a short period. Obsidian source results from Baker Cave III suggests that the Newe occupying this cave were primarily using local southern Idaho sources. Interviews with Shoshone-Bannock tribal elders resulted in four themes emerging: 1) traditional stories and traditional knowledge, 2) cultural landscape, 3) first foods, and 4) colonization and western archaeology. When encompassing the results from a holistic viewpoint it indicates that all lava tube caves on the Eastern Snake River Plain are connected to the Newe since they were created. The Snake River Plain was occupied by the Newe since time immemorial through a chronological framework of Agaidika timeline and a re-designed presence of Shoshonean bands. This is instrumental for interpreting contexts of archaeological sites in this region. This research provides a framework to investigate the interaction with the land and the Newe in the Eastern Snake River Plain. Furthermore, it extends the understanding of Newe cultural continuity and relationship to the land while solidifying the deeper connection they have.

A Newe Perspective of Lava Tube Caves in Southern Idaho: Exploring Tribal and Archaeological Significance

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