Uintah Basin Basketmaker II Anthropomorphic Style: Antecedent and Ancestral to Classic Vernal Fremont Style Rock Art

Summary

In his recent analysis of petroglyphs in the Uintah and San Rafael zones east of the Wasatch Mountains, Keyser (2016) identifies a subset of Fremont style figures as "solidly pecked trapezoidal body style Fremont." In this paper, I expand upon Keyser's analysis by adding to this stylistic repertoire a set of anthropomorphic figures that are largely similar to, but lack Classic Fremont diagnostic features, such as horned or winged headdresses, or body decorations, such as necklaces. Rather than fitting the category of Classic Fremont, I argue that this small assemblage represents a transitional or bridging style linking Eastern Basketmaker anthropomorphic style (Durango, Colorado and Los Pinos, New Mexico zones to the south) and Classic Fremont style in the Uintah Basin (specifically the Cub Creek and Cockleburr Wash, Dinosaur National Monument area). I interpret this evidence of stylistic continuity, correlated with the presence of early maize (A.D. 250-400) in the Uintah Basin (Talbot and Richens 1996; Ortman and McNeil 2015), to suggest that Kiowa-Tanoan speaking EBM maize farmers from southwestern Colorado migrated to the Cub Creek area where they reproduced EBM solidly pecked trapezoidal style which was antecedent and ancestral to the Classic Vernal style.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 14984