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Marsh Life
Danger and Hogup Caves, located in the Great Salt Lake Desert, contain two of the longest archeaological sequences in northern Utah. These caves most likely attracted ancient humans because of their proximity to marshlands about 11,500-8000 years ago. This time period was cooler and wetter than today.
Great Salt Lake and Utah Lake contain thousands of acres of marshes, especially in and around the deltas of primary waterways such as the Bear, Weber, Jordan and Provo rivers. These areas contain numerous archeological sites. Many of these date to the Fremont and Late Prehistoric (i.e. Shoshonean) periods (A.D. 400 and 1850). The elevations of both lakes were often stable and similar to the lakes today.
Other major Great Basin marsh ecosystems occur in southwestern Oregon, southeastern Idaho, eastcentral Nevada, and westcentral Nevada. Complex and lengthy records of human use and occupation have been documented in these areas.
Although ancient human adaptations to Great Basin marshes varied by region and through time, we have adequate information from both the archeological and ethnographic records indicating how people typically "made a living" in these places.