When the Earth Was New

Memory, Materiality, and Numic Ritual

Alex K. Ruuska

$208

Hardback

Forthcoming
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English

University of Utah Press,U.S.
31 January 2026

Archaeology by period & region; Anthropology

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.

By: Alex K. Ruuska
Imprint: University of Utah Press,U.S.
Country of Publication: United States [Currently unable to ship to USA: see Shipping Info]
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
ISBN: 9781647692346
ISBN 10: 1647692342
Pages: 240
Publication Date: 31 January 2026
Audience: College/higher education , Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

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.

Reviews for When the Earth Was New: Memory, Materiality, and Numic Ritual

""This book is a treasure that bridges the gap between Indigenous and conventional academic discourse, particularly critical in a time of increasing Native American participation in matters of historic and cultural preservation.""--David Hurst Thomas, American Museum of Natural History