The Fremont Frontier PDF Download

Author: Katie Kristina Richards
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Fremont culture
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Frontiers are dynamic regions of integration and exclusion where identity and culture are negotiated. The relationships between the heartlands of the North American Southwest and many of its resulting frontiers have been explored; however, very little work has been done to characterize this dynamic in the far "northern periphery," the Fremont region. Despite over a hundred years of research and a material culture with distinct Southwest origins, it is still not clear how interaction between Fremont and the greater Southwest influenced and shaped identity and culture on this northern frontier.Extreme changes occurred in the Fremont region around A.D. 1000 when painted ceramics, along with a suite of Southwestern-looking material and behavioral traits accompanied a significant population increase in the Fremont region. This dissertation uses a multi-scalar approach to explore why these changes occurred at this critical juncture and how they impacted Fremont social identity.This project explores the production, distribution, and use of Fremont painted pottery at three scales to better articulate Fremont within their broader regional context and create a more robust understanding of what 'Fremont' means. The results of this multi-scalar analysis suggest that Fremont painted designs are closely related to the design horizons produced in the Northern San Juan and Cibola/Chaco regions during the A.D. 900s and early 1000s, possibly arriving in the region via migration. These designs were adapted to create a distinctive Fremont design style that remained relatively static for nearly 300 years. Painted pottery was primarily produced in two areas but was widely distributed across the Fremont region. Peoples across the region used painted pottery in similar contexts, and they were most commonly associated with integrative communal structures.When these results are situated within the social, demographic, and historical context of the northern Southwest, they suggest that during the Late Fremont Period, the Fremont region became a dynamic frontier of the northern Southwest where people maintained a shared social identity. The designs painted on Fremont pottery signal both a heritage in and separation from the greater Southwest.