Overview | Prehistory | American Indians | Explorers and Trappers | Mormon Settlement
Territorial Days | Crossroads of the West | Mines and Minorities | Transition| Statehood
Adjustment | War and Depression | Utah Today | Bibliography | Glossary
Utah's prehistory is as diverse as its scenic landscape, covering 10,000-12,000 years. Archaeological sites have been identified in all corners of the state. Ancient people in Utah adapted well to deserts, high mountains, badlands, and marshes.
Archaeologists call the first people living in Utah PaleoIndians. They were hunters and gatherers who sometimes hunted now-extinct mammals like the mammoth. All across Utah, PaleoIndian sites are found. These sites are very old and rare. Some PaleoIndian camps identified along the shoreline of ancient Lake Bonneville reflect PaleoIndian's use of marsh environments.
Changes started in the styles of weapons and life around 8,000 years ago. This marked the beginning of the Archaic period. During the Archaic period, people were hunters and gatherers. They were nomadic, but sometimes they settled in small villages and caves for short periods. During the Archaic period, people made a variety of baskets for collecting plants. They made many types of stone spear and dart tips that they used to hunt animals.From 8,000 to 2,000 years ago the atlatl, used to hurl spears, helped the people hunt successfully. Danger Cave and Juke Box Cave near Wendover, Utah, are two famous sites of the PaleoIndian and Archaic time periods.
Life began to slowly change around 2,500 years ago. Corn, beans, and squash were introduced into Utah, possibly from the south.
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Anasazi pottery |
Archaeologists used the clues they found in caves and other places to identify two groups of American Indians in Utah: the Anasazi and the Fremont Indians. Farming changed the way Anasazi and Fremont Indians made a living. Across much of northern Utah, the Fremont farmed, but they still relied on hunting and gathering for much of their food. Further to the south, in the Four Corners area and across the southern portion of Utah, the Anasazi relied heavily on corn, beans, and squash. The Anasazi domesticated the turkey and used it as an important source of food and raw material.
Around AD 1300, the people we call Fremont and Anasazi were no longer visible in the archaeological record. Some areas were abandoned and new cultures moved into the area. In many ways, people went back to a hunter and gatherer life or the same type of life that the people in the Arachic period lived.
