A Line in the Sand

This chapter features a bioarchaeological examination of traumatic injuries and pathological conditions on human skeletal remains from the Fremont and Virgin Branch Puebloan cultures of the pre-contact American Great Basin and Southwest. This study indicates that there were differences across the borders of these regions, which share a boundary along the southern portions of Utah and Nevada. The Fremont and Puebloan borders considered in this chapter include the boundary between Parowan Valley and the St. George Basin, and the Canyons of the Escalante River and the Kaiparowits Plateau, all in the state of Utah. Additional Ancestral Puebloan bioarchaeological data will be discussed from southern Nevada to help illustrate differences between Fremont and Ancestral Puebloan skeletons. The skeletal evidence allows us to infer that the borders between the Fremont and Virgin Branch Puebloans and the Fremont and the Kayenta Puebloans were very distinct, and results demonstrated that there was a much higher rate of trauma and pathology among the Fremont.