Oasisamerican Cultures: The Fremont

The Fremont are one of three minor traditions/cultures that developed in the prehistoric southwest, mainly in the area of what is now Utah. The culture is named after the Fremont River in the state of Utah where the first distinctive Fremont sites were discovered. At first, the Fremont were considered to be an inferior branch of the Anasazi culture, but now its considered to be a distinct and unique culture; a less socially organized culture but just as adaptable. There are still current debates regarding whether the Fremont were Anasazi people who migrated into Utah or if the culture was created by local Indians under Anasazi influence.

Fremont Petroglyphs at Buckhorn
Kerkphil via Wikimedia Commons

Origins

Archaeologists believe that as early as 400 CE, existing groups of hunter-gatherers on the Colorado Plateau and eastern Great Basin developed into the Fremont. Soon after, corn and other cultivated plants were being grown in central Utah, although these early Fremont farmers did not build settled villages, but remained nomadic throughout the year. Farming and pottery then gradually began to spread from this region to the rest of the Fremont area, which includes most of present day Utah and extends well into central Nevada and other neighboring states. Due to favorable climatic conditions and a keen knowledge of the area, roughly between 700 and 1250 CE was the height of Fremont culture, as well as other southwestern prehistoric cultures. Settled village life had developed in the heart of the Fremont region, with a number of farming villages consisting of semi-subterranean timber and mud pit houses and above-ground storage houses. Fremont farming techniques were as sophisticated as those of other contemporary farming societies, such as irrigation techniques. This lifestyle continued unchanged for the Fremont for about 500 years, but eventually climate changes would irritate the land.

The Anasazi inhabited the south-central portion of the Colorado Plateau, particularly the Four Corners region, while the Fremont culture did not extend south of the Colorado River. So archaeologists ask the question: How much interaction existed between these people? Sites in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and the Henry Mountains near the current Arizona/Utah border indicate cultural interactions between the two groups, including trade and possibly intermarriage. It is interesting that Anasazi archaeological features diminish and Fremont features increase as one moves north along the Green River.

What made them different?

Moki Hut (Granary) in a canyon crevice
near the Fremont River.
Bob Palin via Wikimedia Commons (CC)

Archaeologists studying the Fremont have found only four distinct artifact categories which readily identify this society from others of its time, since pithouse design, horticulture, and projectile points were similar across all prehistoric southwestern cultures. The four "classic" Fremont artifacts are:

1) a unique one-rod-and-bundle basketry style,
2) moccasins constructed with the dew claws a deer or mountain sheep forming the heel,
3) a distinctive art style used in pictographs, petro glyphs, and clay figures depicting trapezoidal human figures decorated in necklaces and blunt hairstyles, and
4) coiled gray pottery. 

Fremont archaeological sites, ranging from villages to small camp-sites, have been identified in practically every ecosystem of the Great Basin/Colorado Plateau region. Artifacts such as snare traps, rabbit nets, fur clothing, leather pouches, and bows and arrows proves that the Fremont developed adapted in order to reside in their imposing environment.

Pilling Figurines
Brian Lee via Wikimedia Commons (CC)

Adaptation and Disappearance

Even though they showed adaptation to the environment, between 1200 and 1500 CE, the Fremont culture began to vanish. Their exact disappearance is unknown but there are several posibilies that together contributed to bring down the Fremont. Climate changes might have made farming more difficult due to decreased precipitation. Competition for the limited resources with migrating Numic-speaking ancestors of the Ute or Shoshoni people might have caused them to die off or they may have been absorbed into a new culture. Whatever the reason might be, the Fremont showed impressive resourceful knowledge of the land they inhabited and thrived for over fifteen hundred years.

About the Author

I'm Jose Pierre and I like learning about all aspects of culture, both ancient and modern. I enjoy learning how they communicated, expressed themselves, and their technology.