Socio-political Organization
Like the other Western Apache groups, the Tonto Apache were not centrally organized. The smallest social unit was the matrilocal and matrilineal family living in one wickiup (kowa or gowa); each wife lived with her children in a separate wickiup. Some kindred families lived together as an extended family (so-called gotah) in a rancheria together. Several gotah (extended families) formed local groups. Together, these claimed hunting and gathering areas. The highest organizational unit was the group or band, which are usually composed of several smaller local groups; it was organized mostly for military purposes and for common defense. (Band organization was strongest in Chiricahua society). The Tonto Apache were divided into the following bands:
Northern Tonto
- Bald Mountain band (Dasziné Dasdaayé Indee - ‘Porcupine Sitting Above People’)
- Fossil Creek band (Tú Dotłʼizh Indee - ‘Blue Water People’, formed bilingual mixed bands living together with the Matkitwawipa band of the Wipukepa-Yavapai)
- Mormon Lake band (Dotl`izhi Ha´it`Indee - ‘Turqoise Road Coming Up People’)
- Oak Creek band (Tsé Hichii Indee - ‘Horizontal Red Rock People’, formed bilingual mixed bands living together with the Wipukepa band of the Wipukepa-Yavapai)
Southern Tonto
- Mazatzal band (Tsé Nołtłʼizhn - ‘Rocks in a Line of Greenness People’, formed bilingual mixed bands living together with the Hakayopa and Hichapulvapa bands of the Wikedjasapa, a subgroup of the Kwevkepaya -Yavapai)
- Dil Zhęʼé semi-band (‘People with high-pitched voices’, first and most important semi-band under which name the other five remaining semi-bands were known)
- second semi-band
- third semi-band
- fourth semi-band
- fifth semi-band
- sixth semi-band
Read more about this topic: Tonto Apache People
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