I'm currently writing a fiction novel that involves a tribe of people who live in the Mojave dessert. However, I am not aware of how people survived or can survive in the dessert with relatively primitive technology.
Wanting to not BS my readers, I tried researching online on how real natives lived in the area traditionally; (Paiute, Washoe, Shoshone, etc.) However I have found very little information on what tools they used to survive, how they made shelter, or how they gathered food and water.
(I'm not entirely sure this is the right subreddit for this, but seeing as my high school had no problems discussing native people in history I assume this counts. If I AM in the wrong place, direction to a better subreddit would be appreciated.)
You might want to ask /r/Askanthropology. People can live just about anywhere without modern technology. Population size is limited by available resources. The hunter-gatherers in the Mojave desert stayed close to sources of water - there were some. They built brush-and-stick round shelters to protect them from the sun and wind. And they hunted and gathered from the life that was around them. But there wasn't enough for a lot of people, so as I said, population was limited.
You might want to consult the Smithsonian series, Handbook of North American Indians, which is an excellent source of overview of each of the North American groups. I think you might find what you need in Volume 11, but Mohave may be covered elsewhere.