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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Household Variation, Public Architecture, And The Organization Of Fremont Communities, James R. Allison, Katie K. Richards, Lindsay D. Johansson, Richard K. Talbot, Scott M. Ure
Household Variation, Public Architecture, And The Organization Of Fremont Communities, James R. Allison, Katie K. Richards, Lindsay D. Johansson, Richard K. Talbot, Scott M. Ure
Faculty Publications
In the far-northern reaches of the greater American Southwest, diverse groups of small-scale agriculturalists, labeled “Fremont” by archaeologists, spread across the northern Colorado Plateau and eastern Great Basin. During the long history of Fremont archaeology, most projects have focused on the excavation of only one or a few residences even in large village sites. Until recently, there has been little effort to understand Fremont social organization or Fremont communities and nothing that could be called household archaeology (but see Hall 2008; Hockett 1998; Janetski and Talbot 2000, 2014; Simms 2008). In fact, for many years the prevailing view has been …
Hiding In Plain Site: Late Fremont Villages In The Uinta Basin, James R. Allison
Hiding In Plain Site: Late Fremont Villages In The Uinta Basin, James R. Allison
Faculty Publications
Syntheses of Fremont archaeology in the Uinta Basin of eastern Utah typically emphasize the small and ephemeral nature of Fremont settlements there. Many archaeologists have also argued that much of the Uinta Basin was abandoned by A.D. 1050. It is true that there are many small Fremont sites in the Uinta Basin, and that most of these sites predate 1050. But several large sites have been excavated in the Basin that appear to be villages, some of which appear to date after the supposed abandonment. These have not been emphasized in the syntheses because they are either poorly described or …
Rethinking Fremont Chronology, James R. Allison
Rethinking Fremont Chronology, James R. Allison
Faculty Publications
The dating of Fremont sites is based almost entirely on radiocarbon dates. A large number of dates exist from the region as a whole, but many of the largest Fremont sites are poorly dated. Most of the important sites excavated prior to the 1980s have at best a few dates, and many of the dates that do exist are on charcoal from structural wood. In some cases the only available dates are clearly centuries too early for the sites and structures they purport to date. In addition to problems with the data, some reports and publications about Fremont archaeology make …
Chronology, Climate, And Fremont Maize Farming In The Great Salt Lake Region, Christopher J. Allison, James R. Allison
Chronology, Climate, And Fremont Maize Farming In The Great Salt Lake Region, Christopher J. Allison, James R. Allison
Faculty Publications
Archaeologists usually say that Fremont maize farming in the Great Salt Lake region began at about AD 400, and that a mid-1100s drought caused the ancient inhabitants of the region to give up farming. But radiocarbon dates from the region do not support these dates. The earliest dated maize and the earliest dated human skeletal remains with bone chemistry suggesting maize consumption both suggest that maize was not grown in the region until after AD 600. Also, recently obtained dates on maize from Fremont villages indicate that farming in the region continued into the AD 1200s. If the end of …
Wolf Village: New Insights On The Fremont, James R. Allison
Wolf Village: New Insights On The Fremont, James R. Allison
Faculty Publications
Wolf Village is remarkable for its architectural diversity, its large and diverse artifact assemblages, and the insights into Fremont social organization and ritual practices it offers. Officially designated 42UT273, the site is on and just below a hill adjacent to Currant Creek, near the town of Goshen at the south end of Utah valley. From 2009 through 2013, the Brigham Young University archaeological field school spent five field seasons there, uncovering the remnants of seven semi-subterranean pit structures and two adobe surface houses. People built and used those structures in the A.D. 1000s or early 1100s, although the radiocarbon dates …
Introducing The Fremont, James R. Allison
Introducing The Fremont, James R. Allison
Faculty Publications
“Fremont” is a label archaeologists use for the northern con- temporaries of Ancestral Pueblo people. Fremont peoples lived mostly in what is now the state of Utah, in the eastern Great Basin and on the northern Colorado Plateau. Their range extended slightly beyond the modern borders of Utah. Sometime during the first few centuries A.D., people began growing maize (corn) in the region. The first farmers might have been immigrants from the south, or indigenous hunter-gatherers who incorporated maize into their diet; most archaeologists think evidence shows a combination of both patterns. Over the next several hundred years, people across …
The Chronology Of Fremont Farming In Northern Utah, James R. Allison
The Chronology Of Fremont Farming In Northern Utah, James R. Allison
Faculty Publications
Fremont maize cultivation in northern Utah occurred at the northernmost extent of prehistoric Native American horticulture west of the Rocky Mountains. Fremont chronology currently relies almost entirely on a large database of radiocarbon dates, but most of the existing dates are on wood charcoal subject to old wood problems; dated charcoal also often has unclear associations with maize or other cultural materials. Recent efforts to directly date archaeological maize from museum collections have helped refine the chronology of Fremont horticulture. These new dates indicate that the timing of the earliest appearance of maize varies across northern Utah, and that in …
Household Variation, Public Architecture, And The Organization Of Fremont Communities, Katie K. Richards, James R. Allison, Richard Talbot, Scott Ure, Lindsay Johansson
Household Variation, Public Architecture, And The Organization Of Fremont Communities, Katie K. Richards, James R. Allison, Richard Talbot, Scott Ure, Lindsay Johansson
Faculty Publications
The Fremont were small scale agriculturalists spread across the northern Colorado Plateau and eastern Great Basin from before A.D. 400 until the A.D. 1300s. Fremont residences are typically pit structures—although late adobe surface structures do occur—established as individual farmsteads, small hamlets, and villages of variable size, the largest with hundreds of occupants. In this paper we discuss how Fremont society was variably organized through time and space, including as households, communities, and dispersed communities. We describe architectural forms that denote not only residential, but also public, communal, and ritual functions. We then present a preliminary model of Fremont organizational strategies …