ABSTRACT
This chapter explains a one line of evidence regarding both the merit and method of a Numic spread are the ethnographic and ethnohistoric data. One of the major questions inherent in the analysis of the hypothesis is how, in what many view as a marginal environment, could one hunter-gatherer population expand and replace another. The importance of the ethnohistoric data relating to movements of Numic peoples and their neighbors just prior to direct Euro-American contact has not been totally neglected. The early ethnohistoric accounts suggest that the Northern Shoshoni were organized for foot warfare on the Plains, and that their incursions onto the Plains predated their acquisition of horses. The chapter examines document population movements by Numic peoples during the ethnohistoric period. Further, it appears that Numic populations of the ethno historic period were militarily aggressive and inclined to exploit their non-Numic neighbors.
