Archeological evidence dates the earliest habitation of Native Americans in Utah to about 10,000 to 12,000 years ago.
Around 8000 BCE, this population was replaced by the Desert Archaic people, who sheltered in caves near the Great Salt Lake.
The Fremont culture, named from sites near the Fremont River in Utah, lived in what is now north and western Utah and parts of Nevada, Idaho and Colorado from approximately 600 to 1300 CE.
At the time of European expansion, beginning with Spanish explorers traveling from Mexico, five distinct native peoples occupied territory within the Utah area: the Northern Shoshone, the Goshute, the Ute, the Piute and the Diné (Navajo).
