USU Faculty Member's Book Looks at the Ancient People of the Great Basin

While much has changed in the modern world and the state of Utah, much is similar to what was seen thousands of years ago. The Wasatch Front was the most populous area of Utah, and immigration was nothing new to the state. When farming first arrived in Utah 2,000 years ago, it was brought by immigrants and adopted by natives.

Observations made today are also appropriate for the Utah of 13,000 years ago and are explored in a new book by Utah State University faculty member Steven R. Simms, a professor in USU’s Department of Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology, with specialties in anthropological theory, behavioral ecology and archaeology.

 

Simms’s book, Ancient Peoples of the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau, is receiving academic and public acclaim. Written for the educated lay reader, the work is an archaeology book about the once-lived lives of real people, Simms said. It explores how the Native American sense of place was redefined over and over again as the tides of history swept over an Indian world more cosmopolitan than many think, Simms said.

 

The book’s narrative begins with scenes and archaeological examples along the Wasatch Front then works outward to encompass the entire Great Basin from the Mojave Desert of California to the Colorado Plateau of eastern Utah.

 

Readers can take a look at ancient Utah through Simms’s eyes.

 

“Stand on the hillside above Willard and step into a time machine on a summer day in A.D. 1150,” he said. “The first thing to catch our gaze below would be a walled town of dozens of homes covering more than 20 acres. The homes are built on the remnants of earlier homes in a relentless cycle that accumulated into a mound several meters high.”

 

The mound is now gone — scraped away to be used as fill to build the Willard Bay dikes, Simms said. Only the place remains, used now by picnickers and boaters who lounge around the campground at Willard Bay State Park.

 

Ancient Peoples of the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau features original artwork by Eric Carlson and Noel Carmack, depicting reconstructions of archaeologically documented scenes from ancient times. The book also features maps and charts. Published by Left Coast Press, Inc., the book is available at the USU Bookstore in the “History” and “USU Authors” sections.

 

Scholars across the country have commented on Simms’s book.

 

“The book is, quite simply, a tour de force,” said Don D. Fowler, the Mamie Kleberg Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, Emeritus, University of Nevada, Reno. “Simms has synthesized an enormous body of data and sets the theories, thought carefully about all of it, and presented his conclusions and critical analyses in a reader-friendly manner.”

 

Robert L. Kelly of the University of Wyoming said the book will interest many.

 

“Here is, finally, what so many have been waiting for: a concise, readable and intelligent prehistory of the Great Basin,” Kelly said. “Simms has produced a thought-provoking synthesis of not only data, but current arguments; both professionals and the interested public will find this volume interesting and useful.”

 

For information on Ancient Peoples of the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau, contact Simms at USU, (435) 797-1277.

 

Writer: Patrick Williams (435) 797-1354

Contact: Steven R. Simms (435) 797-1277