Culture, Climate, and the Agricultural Transition in Northeastern Utah’s Uintah Basin: The Cub Creek Fremont in Dinosaur National Monument

Program Description: The Fremont cultures of the northeastern Great Basin and northern Colorado Plateau are understood as the northernmost maize agriculturalists in the North American Southwest. Because of the relatively recent timing of the Fremont foraging-farming transition (AD 300-1300), we can learn a great deal about the subtle interplay between climatic conditions and social decisions leading to the intensification of farming, the formation of early agricultural villages, and the development of complex societies. The Cub Creek reach of Dinosaur National Monument in northeastern Utah is a case study in the socio-ecological dynamics of Fremont culture.

Bio: Judson Finley is Associate Professor of Anthropology and is Department Head of Sociology and Anthropology at Utah State University. Judson has spent his life and career living and working in western Wyoming, southern Idaho, and northern Utah. He specializes in the intersection of archaeology and earth sciences and it relates to the region’s cultural and natural history.