When the Earth Was New (Paperback)

Alex K. Ruuska

ISBN 10: 1647692369 / ISBN 13: 9781647692360

Published by University of Utah Press,U.S., Salt Lake City, 2026

About this Item

Paperback. Explores the value of oral traditions and challenges entrenched beliefs about ethnogenesis in the Great Basin In When the Earth Was New, Alex K. Ruuska explores riveting multigenerational memories of Numic-speaking communities that extend back, potentially, to the late Pleistocene. These diverse oral traditions describe geological, climatic, and ecological events that occurred over thousands of years and were passed down across many generations. Through the examination of place-based memories and the architecture of Numic knowledge, Ruuska demonstrates convergences of oral traditions, ethnography, ethnohistory, archaeology, and geology.When the Earth Was New critically compares and considers multiple forms of knowledge that contribute to overlapping as well as disparate understandings of both recent and distant pasts in the regions of California, the Great Basin, and the Colorado Plateau. It works at balancing key themes in these regions histories within a more holistic framework, exploring ancient and modern strands of knowledge with the assistance of twenty-four Tribes and Consolidated Organizations. Shipping may be from our Sydney, NSW warehouse or from our UK or US warehouse, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9781647692360

Bibliographic Details

• Title: When the Earth Was New (Paperback)
• Publisher: University of Utah Press,U.S., Salt Lake City
• Publication Date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1647692369
• ISBN 13: 9781647692360
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

Explores the value of oral traditions and challenges entrenched beliefs about ethnogenesis in the Great Basin

In When the Earth Was New, Alex K. Ruuska explores riveting multigenerational memories of Numic-speaking communities that extend back, potentially, to the late Pleistocene. These diverse oral traditions describe geological, climatic, and ecological events that occurred over thousands of years and were passed down across many generations. Through the examination of place-based memories and the architecture of Numic knowledge, Ruuska demonstrates convergences of oral traditions, ethnography, ethnohistory, archaeology, and geology.

When the Earth Was New critically compares and considers multiple forms of knowledge that contribute to overlapping as well as disparate understandings of both recent and distant pasts in the regions of California, the Great Basin, and the Colorado Plateau. It works at balancing key themes in these regions’ histories within a more holistic framework, exploring ancient and modern strands of knowledge with the assistance of twenty-four Tribes and Consolidated Organizations.

About the Author

Alex K. Ruuska specializes in ethnoarchaeology, oral traditions, sociocultural anthropology, collective healing, and tribal engagement and consultation with Indigenous populations throughout North America. She is the Founder and Director of R. Haus Institute, LLC, an educational and healing institute committed to simple living and sustainable futures.