Since Complex A largely overlapped B, cultural reconstruction will
have to be considered in the light of evidence from sites affiliated
with it. This reconstruction will be based however, on evidence from
LoDaisKa.
The economic life of the people probably revolved mainly about
hunting and gathering. Animals hunted included birds, prairie dog,
chipmunk, bighorn sheep, bison, and above all deer. The large
number of projectile points attests to the importance of hunting.
Gathering placed an emphasis on plum, acorn, and grass seeds such as
_Muhlenbergia_. Corn also appears to have been grown. Characteristics
of preservation have precluded the possibility of determining its
importance in the diet of the people. One bone of the genus Canis was
found. This may represent coyote or dog. Wormington (1955) found a bone
of genus Canis which also could have been from a domestic dog. Since
dogs were known in the Southwest from Basketmaker times, this is not an
impossibility (Kidder and Guernsey, 1931). Pieces of leather suggest
that this was used for clothing. There were also beads attesting to
ornamentation. Necklaces and elaborate dress were characteristic of the
Fremont people, as revealed by petroglyphs and various discoveries of
clothing.
Amusement, or at least recreation, is indicated by the presence of
gaming pieces. Considering the care used in making one of these objects
they must have been fairly important in the cultural pattern. Great
Basin people were often inveterate gamblers (Steward, 1940). Wormington
(1955) has recorded a Cheyenne woman’s description of a game played
with bone gaming pieces.
[Illustration: FIGURE 74—LOCATION OF PRINCIPAL SITES AND LOCALITIES
REFERRED TO IN THE TEXT.]
People of this complex appear to have been rather skilled in stone
working. Chipped projectile points are usually executed with care,
often achieving slender finely flaked forms. It is interesting to note
that stone scrapers were apparently little used by Fremont people.
Perhaps hides were prepared in other ways. Baskets were undoubtedly
made and were probably important. The awls found can attest either
to sewing or basket-making; the long slender awls would have been
especially suited for the latter. Tubular beads were made by a process
widespread in the West: incising and splitting. Pottery was roughly
made and fairly thick, but not more so than some of Wormington’s
(average thickness 5 mm.). Pottery of this rougher type is widespread
in northern Fremont locales.
Concerning the possible socio-political situation some conjecture can
be recorded. First, as Wormington (1955) pointed out, using data from
Murdock (1949), “hunting is normally a male activity and it seems
probable that agricultural pursuits were left to the women, and the
corn plots may have belonged to them. The inheritance of corn plots by
women may have served to unite nuclear families into extended families
with matrilineal descent and matri-local residence. However, emphasis
on hunting and possible warfare would tend to enhance the status of
men and descent may have been bilateral or patrilineal.” For Complex A
the latter would be especially important if the absence of quantities
of pottery indicates less emphasis on agriculture and more on hunting.
Certainly, however, the wild foods at both the LoDaisKa Site and in
Castle Park show the continued importance of gathering activities
usually associated with women.