Excavations at a high altitude archaeological site (3350 m) in the eastern Uinta Mountains, Utah, uncovered at least three ephemeral brush structures. These temporary timberline dwellings are the highest structures excavated in Utah to date. The periods of occupation range from the early Fremont period to the post-contact era. It is believed that the Fremont occupations are logistical in nature, possibly representing male hunting parties. Logistical camps imply a departure from, and return to, a residential camp. Ethnographic studies show that most residential camps are located within proximity to culinary plants to facilitate collection by women. In the Uinta Mountains, residential camps were most likely located at mid-elevations for the procurement of Chenopodium seeds. In addition to the benefits women received by being close to an important economic resource, mid-elevation bases meant that logistical male hunting parties could access the upper-most elevations more efficiently. A maximum transport distance model was tested for appropriateness at high altitudes. Maximum transport distance models measure levels of efficiency to and from a residential base (or, more correctly, to a point of consumption). They are mathematical models built on measures of caloric gain and expenditure. It is argued that efficiency models that focus on male economic tasks, typically expected at timberline sites, must also consider where the residential base will be located based on women's subsistence economies. In other words, in order to operate above a caloric loss the maximum return trip distance for a male hunter laden with a resource must reach the residential base. However, as stated earlier, the location of the residential base should be located where women could collect most efficiently, not at the male's maximum distance. Thus, the male logistical zone (from timberline to the residence) and the female residential zone must overlap, or the maximum transport model cannot be supported. In this case, other currencies, such as prestige and fatty meat, could have propelled an individual to travel farther that energy-based transport models allow.

The Fremont tradition developed on the northern Colorado Plateau and eastern Great Basin between A.D. 1 and A.D. 1350 (Talbot 2000a). Research on exotics in the Fremont area, specifically turquoise and Olivella shell, has been sporadic until recently (Hughes and Bennyhoff 1986; McDonald 1994; Janetski 2002). In this thesis, I present new data on Olivella and turquoise artifacts found throughout the Fremont region, including the Parowan Valley sites, Nephi Mounds, and Kay's Cabin, as well as a spatial distribution of Olivella and turquoise in the Fremont area. I performed microprobe analysis on blue-green artifacts from Kay's Cabin and found most are turquoise, although other minerals including variscite, azurite, malachite, and possibly chrysocolla are also present. Also, various experimental methods were used to chemically characterize a turquoise artifact from Parowan Valley (see Appendix A). I analyzed over 350 Olivella artifacts (see Appendix B) and examined modern Olivella shells; therefore, I provide a discussion of the details and differences between the O. biplicata and O. dama species. Through testing Janetski's (2002) trade fair model, I readdress the question of whether or not Olivella and turquoise were distributed across the Fremont region via directional or down-the-line exchange. My research supports Janetski's model and shows that Fremont exotic exchange moved directionally, with Olivella and turquoise artifacts concentrated at central sites on the Fremont landscape. I also explore the possibility that the exchange of Olivella and turquoise to the Fremont area was conducted through different networks. It appears, based on high numbers of turquoise at certain sites and high frequencies of Olivella artifacts at other sites, that these ornaments were not traded together. I examine whether exotic artifacts were differentially distributed among sites in Parowan Valley and within the specific sites and I observed that Olivella and turquoise are most often associated with living areas.

This thesis primarily addresses the implications of Fremont gaming pieces in the Parowan Valley. First, I review ethnographic gaming pieces and compare them to the Fremont worked bone pieces in order to support the idea that they were used by the Fremont in games similar to the ones recorded ethnographically. Then, I analyze a collection of Fremont gaming pieces from excavations at three Parowan Valley sites. I note drastic differences in the characteristics found on pieces inside the Parowan Valley and those form outside the Parowan Valley. It is also clear that gaming pieces are being produced in the Parowan Valley and used more frequently there when compared to outside of it. I suggest that this means large aggregations are taking place in the Parowan Valley in the late Fremont period.

This thesis primarily addresses the quantities and distributions of Fremont projectile points in the Parowan Valley. First, I review previous research performed in Parowan Valley and outline currently accepted projectile point analysis and typology methods. I also review ethnographic data surrounding the function and value of projectile points. Then, I provide the results of an analysis of all projectile points in the Parowan Valley Archaeological Project collection. I note the large amount of projectile points in this collection and compare it to projectile point counts from other large Fremont sites.I also note chronological patterns in Parowan Valley using projectile points as relative temporal markers. With this data and the data provided by other theses on Parowan Valley, I argue that sites in Parowan Valley served as centers for aggregation and other socio-economic practices in the Late Formative Period.

Defining the Fremont archaeological culture has challenged archaeologists for decades. There is still considerable debate about the origins of the Fremont, their eventual demise, their genetic relationship to modern Native American tribes, and myriad other issues. In nearly a century of Fremont research, socio-political, economic, and religious complexity remain elusive subjects. Examining technological style, the manifestation of socially influenced choices during each step of production as a means of passive communication, is one useful avenue to examine Fremont material culture to uncover the social patterns they may, or may not contain. I examine whether or not technological style in Fremont Snake Valley corrugated pottery hold traces of social identity produced by Fremont potters living in the Parowan Valley, Utah.

Although Fremont ceramic design styles have the potential to tell archaeologists a great deal about Fremont social interaction and boundaries, they have never been studied in detail. In the Fremont world, painted designs appear almost exclusively on the inside of bowls produced in two different regions of Utah. The firstis the Snake Valley production zone in southwestern Utah where Snake Valley Black-on-gray was produced; the second is the Emery production zone in central Utah where white-slipped Ivie Creek Black-on-white bowls were produced. The similarities in designs on the two main types of Fremont painted bowls indicates regional interaction and exchange of both materials and ideas between the two production zones, while the differences suggest regional distinctions existed within a larger Fremont complex.

This thesis is a field report on the archaeological sites surveyed by the author in Goshen Valley, Utah County, Utah. The survey has the threefold objectives of: (1) surveying and recording of sites in Goshen Valley; (2) providing information on the material culture of the ancient inhabitants of the valley; and (3) discovering whether there was a dividing line during the Fremont occupation between the Provo and Sevier regions as outlined by Jones (1961), Green (1964), and Ambler (1966).To this end, seventy-four sites are described along with the related material culture with an analysis of the material culture in the appropriate sections of the thesis. Cultural material has been catagorized into three main affiliations: Fremont, Shoshoni, and Unknown. A cultural sequence of food collecting followed by farming followed by food collecting was evidence in the material remains of the valley.The remainder of the thesis deals with theoretical developments and the relationships of the Fremont farming sites in the valley to the overall Fremont Culture. The information obtained from the survey and analysis of the material culture of the Fremont sites lends support to the Jones-Green-Ambler hypothesis that there was a division between the Provo and the Sevier sub-areas on the basis of trait distributions.

Dendroarchaeological samples can contain three kinds of information: chronological, behavioral, and environmental. The decisions of past people regarding species selection, beam size, procurement and modification techniques, deadwood use, and stockpiling are the most critical factors influencing an archaeological date distribution. Using dendrochronological samples from prehistoric and historic period sites in the same area of eastern Utah, this paper examines past human behavior as the critical factor in dendroarchaeological date distributions.

A Fremont site distribution model for the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument during the period A.D. 500—1050/1100 posits that the Fremont subsistence strategy (seasonal mobility with dependence on both agriculture and hunting/foraging) is reflected by a site pattern of low-investment, seasonal or short-term habitation sites and isolated storage facilities at "lowland" elevations, and high-investment, long-term residence sites at "upland" elevations (McFadden 1998, 2000). This research assesses the model to evaluate its general precision, looking particularly at its success in modeling site locations for long-term residential versus seasonal/short-term habitation sites. A database including more than 400 Fremont sites was created to evaluate the model. Data variables examined in this thesis included elevation, distance-to-water, and primary landform. Analysis of the elevation data demonstrates that the McFadden model does not fit the actual distribution of Fremont sites identified from survey. Further analysis also established that distance-to-water is not an effective variable in accurately modeling Fremont site patterning over this region. The association between functional site types and primary landforms, however, does appear to more accurately reflect site distribution as observed on the ground. Based on these results, a new model for Fremont site distribution in the upper Escalante River drainage is proposed.

This paper is a summary of the methods and key results of my analysis of 7,997 sherds from 14 sites in Beef Basin, Utah. I discuss physical attributes of the collection, the results of mean ceramic dating, the results of neutron activation analysis, and the results of refiring a sample of nips in an oxidizing atmosphere. I briefly summarize the architecture at each site , as well as possible Fremont cultural material found in and near Beef Basin. I conclude that Beef Basin was likely occupied in the early Pueblo III period and that the occupation was sudden and brief. I determined that paste color can be used as a general indicator of clay procurement locale north of the Abajo Mountains, just as it is in the Comb Ridge vicinity (Glowacki et al. 2015), that there was ceramic production in Beef Basin using local materials, and that the people of Beef Basin had similar connections as, or connections with the east of the Comb Ridge area, as evinced by similar sources for light-paste ceramics found in both areas.