Trade in Fremont society: contexts and contrasts

Marine shell, turquoise, exotic ceramics, and toolstone, and raw minerals are common in archaeological assemblages generated by the Fremont, small scale farmers and foragers who occupied the eastern Great Basin and Colorado Plateau of western North American between AD 400 and 1300. Although researchers routinely describe such artifacts, little attention been paid to the means whereby these items were acquired or the implications those mechanisms have for understanding Fremont socio-economic patterns and relations. This paper presents the spatial patterning of both local and exotic goods from Fremont occupations and offers a range of social contexts for exchange as well as contrasts with Virgin Anasazi contexts for such goods. A trade fair/festival model is proposed as an important mechanism or context for the distribution of exotics at Fremont sites. 2002 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.