CHAPTER 2
ANCIENT PEOPLES
Much like the great oceans which swept in and out of the western deserts millions of years ago, there have been early people who crossed the landscape that is now Iron County only to retreat or disappear. Their existence is documented through artifacts discovered and studied over the past one hundred and fifty years. Weapons, projectile points, tools, pottery, bone remains, and pictures carved into rock walls tell about Iron County's prehistoric people, but they do not answer the important questions of where they came from and why they left. 1 Generally, the ancient peoples of Utah are divided into three groups: the Paleo-Indians, who lived perhaps 12,000 to 8,000 years ago; the Archaic peoples, including the so-called Desert Culture, who came and went between 9,000 and 1,500 years ago; and the betterknown Formative societies from about the time of Christ until historic times in the eighteenth century. The Formative societies, which developed horticulture and ceramic technology, include the Anasazi and the Fremont till about A.D. 1300 and the Numic-speaking peoples 20
