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Questions you asked about Archaeology of Utah

Were there people here before the Mormon settlers? or How long have people lived in Utah? Yes, Native American peoples have occupied Utah for the last 10,000 -1,000 years (at least).

What tribes lived here in the distant past? Archaeologists do know what "tribes" lived in Utah thousands of years ago. We have our own names for them that help us categorize and understand them. Archaeologists use the terms Paleoindian, Archaic, Fremont, and Anasazi to describe the prehistoric cultures of Utah.

When did Indians begin to use horses? Horses were reintroduced to North America by the Spanish in the 1500s. Native groups began to use horses in the Southwest soon after and within 150 years most groups in the western part of North America had horses. For thousands of years of Utah's past, Native Americans walked from place to place.

What animals did Indian people have domesticated? Dogs have been domesticated for thousands of years. All of the prehistoric groups in Utah had domesticated dogs. The Anasazi also domesticated the turkey. Horses were not used until the 1600s.

What crops were grown by Indians? Here in Utah, Native groups started experimenting with corn about 2,500 years ago. The Fremont lived a life of hunting and gathering along with the cultivation of corn, beans, and squash. The Anasazi were heavily dependent on the growing of these same crops. At the same time, the Fremont and the Anasazi continued to gather wild plant foods. Tools for plant processing, the mano or handstone and the metate or grinding stone, are often found at archaeological sites in Utah.

When did Indians begin using the bow and arrow? Bow and arrow technology came into Utah roughly 2,500 years ago. Prior to the bow, people used an atlatl or spear thrower for hunting.

What Native groups were here when the European settlers arrived? Utah is the historic home to the Utes, Paiutes, Goshutes, Navajo, and Shoshone.

Were some tribes rich and other tribes poor? Try to think of this in terms of different cultures. All Native American groups who lived here were very different from each other. Some groups possessed finely made pottery and lived in masonry buildings while others lived a nomadic lifestyle as hunters and gatherers. Groups were different and cannot be compared in terms of rich and poor, good or bad.

When did Indians first make pottery? The Fremont and the Anasazi were the first groups to use pottery in Utah. About 2,000 years ago the idea of pottery reached the Southwest. Pottery was made by coiling strands of clay mixed with a temper, usually sand or crushed rock. Temper was added to the clay to hold it together. Much of the pottery made in Utah is what archaeologists call "grey-ware" due to its color. Both the Anasazi and Fremont made excellent pottery and some of it was decorated with white slips and black paints. The Paiute and Shoshone made pottery in historic times.

Was there warfare in prehistoric Utah? The term "warfare" is open to interpretation but what we do know is that in prehistoric Utah there was violence among prehistoric peoples. The archaeological record tells of murder, beatings, and possibly of cannibalism.

What do the symbols on rock art mean? Nobody knows exactly what they mean. Symbols have meanings, but the meaning can be different for each person that looks at them. Obviously, some symbols represent humans or animals but most of the time the real meaning is unknown.

Are there different types of rock art? Petroglyphs are symbols pecked into the rock. Pictographs are actually painted on the rock. In Utah, we have both types of rock art.

Are archaeologists only interested in Indian remains? No. Archaeologists also study the materials left behind by the European settlers in Utah. Archaeology is a science that studies all cultures, present and past. Some archaeologists specialize in underwater shipwrecks while some specialize in military forts, battlefields from the Civil War and pioneer sites. Recently, archaeologists have even started to become interested in remains from WWII and WWII era plane wrecks, buildings, military fields, and battlefields.

Did people live around the Great Salt Lake? Yes and how! The wetlands around the Great Salt Lake provided great resources in terms of food, usable plants, and fresh water. People living in the Great Basin would often focus their culture on the marsh systems. Marsh systems allowed people in some parts of Utah to live in year-round settlements adjacent to the marshes.

Is it illegal to collect arrowheads? It is illegal to collect artifacts from sites on federal or state lands. It is illegal to take anything from private land without the permission of the landowner. Removing artifacts from sites disrupts the archaeological record because the artifact is removed from its context. Collecting artifacts is a huge problem in Utah. Some archaeological sites are no longer visible because all the artifacts have been collected. There have been recent cases where people have been sent to prison and/or fined for damaging archaeological sites on public lands.

Do archaeologist study dinosaurs? No, archaeologists deal only with material left by human beings. Paleontologists are the scientists who study dinosaurs and fossils.

Did Indians eat their dogs? (I've only been asked this question one time but the girl told me her dad told her that Indians ate dogs all the time). Dogs were sometimes used as a food source in prehistoric Utah. Indian people also used dogs for hunting; and in times before the horse, dogs were used to carry loads. On the Great Plains, the time before the horse was called "Dog Days" by old Indians who talked with anthropologists in the early 1900s.

Where are Indian burial grounds? Different groups buried their dead in different ways and in different places. Sometimes the dead were placed in specially prepared "graves" that were next to or within houses, and often the Anasazi would bury their dead in the midden area of the village. Middens are areas where trash and debris were placed, but it is also a place where the dirt is soft and easy to dig. Special care was given to the dead person in the way of offerings and utensils for the next world. Some groups placed their dead in trees or on platforms made of wood. Some would place the dead high in the mountains on talus slopes or in rock cracks. Native Americans in Utah did not have one specific place where they buried their dead. That is our culture's custom but that was not the custom of Utah's prehistoric people.

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