Ute Indians (who call themselves Nuciu, "The People") are Southern Numic speakers of the Numic (Shoshonean) language family. At the time of Euro-American contact, twelve informally affiliated Ute bands inhabited most of Utah and western Colorado. They included the Cumumba (probably a Shoshone band), the Tumpanuwac, Uinta-at, San Pitch, Pahvant, and Sheberetch in Utah, and the Yamparka, Parianuc, Taviwac, Wiminuc, Kapota, and Muwac in Colorado. The bands recognized, traded, and intermarried with each other, but maintained no larger tribal organization. Band members gathered annually at their spring Bear Dance or to take advantage of some resource abundance, but otherwise remained in local residence groups of from 20 to 100 people.

Utes practiced a flexible subsistence system elegantly adapted to their environments. Extended family groups moved through known hunting and gathering territories on a seasonal basis, taking advantage of the periodic abundance of food and material resources in different ecozones. Men hunted deer, antelope, buffalo, rabbits, and other small mammals and birds with bows and arrows, spears, and nets. Women gathered seed grasses, piñon nuts, berries, roots, and greens in woven baskets, and processed and stored meat and vegetal materials for winter use. Utes took advantage of the abundance of fish in Utah Lake and other fresh water sources, drying and storing them for trade and winter use.