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• Late Prehistoric and Flistoric Periods <br />The Fremont Culture apparently occupied the region ca. A.D 500-1300; yet, many <br />wtanswereti questions concerning the Fremont remain. It is generally agreed that vinous <br />horticulturalist (Formative) groups--possibly ofdivcrsc origins and languages, but sharing <br />similar material traits and subsistence strategies--occupied Utah and western Colorado <br />between about A. D. 500 and A. D. 1300 (Madsen 1979:717). Their occupation or utilization <br />of the central mountain area is very unclear as arc their Anasari contemporaries from whom <br />they adopted many trails. The Fremont were culturally distinct in several characteristics <br />including cone-rod-and-bundle basketry construction style, a moccasin style, trapezoidal <br />shaped clay figurines and rock art figures, and gray coil-made pottery (Madsen 1989:9- I I ). <br />Regionally, the Fremont apparently retained many Archaic subsistence strategies <br />such as relying more on the gathering of wild plants and having less dependence on <br />domesticated ones--corn, beans, and squash. Maize horticulture was practiced throughout <br />the area, however, as indicated by excavations in cast central Utah and west central <br />Colorado. Lister and Dick (195'_) and Wonnington and Lister (1956) documented the <br />presence of"Fremont-Basketmakers" as they uncovered wtbaked, molded clay figurines and <br />evidence ol'corn horticulture at rock shelter sites in Glade Park, southwest of Grand <br />Junction, Colorado. These and other sites in Glade Park also are known for their splendid <br />Fremont rock an of the Classic Sieber Canyon style (Conner and Ott 1978). Another <br />• significant concentration of Fremont Culture remains have been identified in the Douglas <br />Creek area of Northwestern Colorado. Characteristics ofthis group include dry and wet-laid <br />masonry structures on promontories, granaries in overhangs, and slab-lined pithouses. <br />Fremont ceramics are occasionally found in west-central Colorado, often in <br />association with rlnasazi decorated and corrugated Puebloan wares. Anasazi wares have <br />been recovered from the Ivlesa/Collbran area and were comparatively dated between A.D. <br />1000-1300 (Antutnd 1967:57). Groups I and fl oftlte analyzed pottery in r\nnand's study <br />were not assigned a cultural attiliation but from the descriptions given, may be Fremont. <br />Gray ware ceramics have recently been dated at two sites in the Douglas Creek area. Sites <br />SRB382S and SRB2329 yielded sand-tempered gray ware, named the Douglas Creek Gray <br />ware, and had associated dates of A.D. 57pf Id0 and A. D. 790f60 (Haulk 1993^52). <br />Comparative dates and ceramics were obtained from SRB2958 (Baker 1990). This type and <br />other Fremont ceramics, including Uinta Gray Ware and Emery Gray Ware, have been found <br />on the western edge of the central mountain region (Conner and Langdon 1987; Patty- <br />Walker Buchanan, personal communication). <br />(=vidcnce of Formative cuhures' influence in this region is found in excavated and <br />surt;~ce contexts as near as Battlement Mesa, where small corner-notched projectile points <br />and the partial remains ofa pit stntcture were identified at site SGF134 (Conner and <br />Langdon 1987). The stnicturc dated A. D. G90.t90. A second occupation level was <br />• 8 <br />