When the Earth Was New
Regular price
€33.99
A01=Alex K. Ruuska
ancient ecological events
Author_Alex K. Ruuska
California and Colorado Plateau archaeology
Category=JHM
Category=NK
Category=NKD
converging knowledge systems
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_new_release
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
ethnogenesis theories
ethnohistorical landscapes
ethnohistory
geological history in oral tradition
holistic framework
indigenous anthropology
indigenous memory and knowledge
intergenerational
Numic cultural heritage
Numic-speaking communities
oral narratives
oral traditions in the Great Basin
place-based memory
Pleistocene
scientific
storytelling
traditional
tribal collaboration
Product details
- ISBN 9781647692360
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 16 Jan 2026
- Publisher: University of Utah Press,U.S.
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
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.
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.
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.
