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EARLY INHABITANTS AND FIRST WHITE EXPLORATION Ancient Cultures Long before the Mormons or any other persons of European descent settled southern Utah different Native American peoples lived there. Anthropologists, archaeologists, and historians have identified ancient desert cultures living in southern Utah dating back as early as 11,000 years ago. Archaeologists have divided prehistoric people into various cultures and groups based upon factors such as their location, practices of subsistence, use of tools, types of shelter, and household items. It is believed by many researchers that those now known as Paleo-Indians inhabited the region first, spreading throughout western North America after their ancestors crossed the Bering Straits during the great Ice Ages of the Pleistocene epoch some 25,000 to 15,000 years ago. These people were hunter-gatherers, hunting for food and clothing the great megafauna of the glacial period, animals that include the now-extinct mammoth, mastodon, cave bear, giant sloth, and sabre-toothed cat. The chronology of the hunter-gatherer Paleo-Indian and Archaic 30
