Northern Shoshone

Northern Shoshone are Shoshone of the Snake River Plain of southern Idaho and the northeast of the Great Basin where Idaho, Wyoming and Utah meet. They are culturally affiliated with the Bannock people and are in the Great Basin classification of Indigenous People.

Language

Northern Shoshone is a dialect of the Shoshone language, a Central Numic language in the Uto-Aztecan language family. It is primarily spoken on the Fort Hall and Wind River reservations in Idaho and Wyoming, respectively.

Bands

Bands of Shoshone people were named for their geographic homelands and for their primary food sources.

Mountain Shoshone bands:

Agaideka or Agai-deka (Akaitikka, Salmon Eaters, Lemhi Shoshone, living on the middle and lower Snake River and in the Lemhi River Valley, Lemhi Range and Beaverhead Mountains in Idaho, originally following the same lifeway as the Tukudeka. After acquiring horses in the eighteenth century, they adopted a Plains style and went on buffalo hunts. They were also called Kuccuntikka or Kuchun-deka (Guchundeka, Kutsindüka, Buffalo Eaters)

Tukudeka or Tuku-deka (Tukkutikka, Dukundeka), Sheep Eaters, Mountain Sheep Eaters, living along the Salmon River, Salmon River Mountains, in the Sawtooth Valley surrounded by the Sawtooth Range, upper Payette River, in the Bitterroot Mountains and Beaverhead Mountains in Idaho, and in the Wind River Range in western Wyoming. They also traveled north toward the upper Beaverhead drainage. and the upper Yellowstone River in northern Wyoming and southern Montana.