Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology

The Uinta Mountains of northeastern Utah provide a formidable natural barrier, as well as a convenient boundary to delineate culture groups and areas. While the Uintas do form a significant obstacle to human movement, evidence indicates a long and abundant record of human activity in this mountain range. Rather than a barrier, the rain-gathering mountains may have served as an oasis in a generally dry land. The initial model for use of the Uintas argued that groups from southwestern Wyoming were primarily responsible for the presence of prehistoric materials. This model may be too simplistic, and new evidence is presented that suggests Fremont peoples in the Uinta Basin directly accessed toolstone sources in southwestern Wyoming and on the north slope of the Uintas.