Abstract

Groups of agriculturalist/hunter-gatherers known as the Fremont inhabited the eastern Great Basin and Colorado Plateau from roughly A.D. 1-A.D. 1350 (Madsen 1989). Fremont groups used differing storage strategies through time and across space. Storage strategies included on-site and off-site storage facilities which were constructed above and/or below-ground. These forms of storage occurred at different frequencies and times throughout the Fremont's 1350 year time span. Researchers (Binford 1980, 1990; Keeley 1988; Soffer 1989; Testart 1982; Wills 1992; Young 1996) using examples from various parts of the world have noted a correlation between the degree of residential mobility and the use of storage. Lisa Young's (1996) model of storage and mobility posits that there is a direct correlation between the types of storage facilities a group uses and the level of mobility that they engage in. Generally, groups who use subterranean and/or off-site storage engage in a mobile or semi-sedentary settlement strategy and those who use on-site above-ground storage engage in a sedentary settlement strategy. This model was used to analyze mobility among the Fremont. To do so, a storage database was created which contained information on Fremont storage features such as type, location, date, and size. Analysis shows that there was a general trend of increasing sedentism through time for the Fremont, although this trend varies in degree through three general time periods and in three geographic areas. Further, the data was analyzed to determine whether there was significant spatial or temporal patterning of storage facilities. It was found that significant patterns do exist and are correlated in part with Fremont mobility.

Degree

College and Department

Family, Home, and Social Sciences; Anthropology

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