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Show Summit Research Reveals Story Of Fremont Indians 1 Tlie origin and fate of Utah's ancient Fremont Indians In-dians still remain much of a mystery, but archaeological excavations by the University of Utah are shedding new light on this now-extinct culture cul-ture of man. Anthropologists from the university after painstaking, analyzing thousands of artifacts arti-facts and other information unearthed in their "digs" now believe the Fremont Indians In-dians migrated Into Utah from the Northwestern Plains about 500 A. D., flourished for many years in a friendly, agricultural agricul-tural environment and then withered and finally disappeared disap-peared before the great expansion ex-pansion of the Anasazi (Pueblo) (Pueb-lo) from the Southwest and the population pressures of the Shoshoni-speaking tribes from the North. It was previously thought the Fremont were merely "primitive and peripheral" to the Anasazi. The most recent university "dig" into the Fremont past is at a site called "Median Village," just north of Summit. The ruins lie in a onro-rleh grain field directly in the path of a soon-to-be-built section of Interstate 15. The university on contract with the Utah Highway Department De-partment is rushing excavation excava-tion to salvage artifacts before be-fore the new highway covers the site. Dr. Jesse D. Jennings, professor pro-fessor of anthropology who is directing the salvage project, estimates there are at least 10,000 Fremont sites west of the Wasatch Mountains in Utah. He says the culture was much more extensive and im-Dortant im-Dortant than anthroDoloeists Anasazi on the fringes of their northern settlements. "The people who lived here were farmers," said Mr. Mar-witt. Mar-witt. "They raised maize, beans and squash and also hunted game on the nearby ranges." In a little more than a month of digging, the university univer-sity crew has unearthed two human skeletons from Median Village. One was discovered only inches below the plow line in a prehistoric garbage heap. The other was found buried five feet below the floor of one of the pit-houses. previously believed. In the past, he adds, others in the field have somewhat ignored Fremont research in their rush to learn more about the Ana-sazi. Ana-sazi. Work began on the Summit site in July, and since that time seven Fremont structures have been uncovered, including includ-ing shallow huts, deep pit-houses pit-houses and surface adobe granaries. John P. Marwitt, graduate student supervising field work for Dr. Jennings, calls the village vil-lage "a large settlement of between 30 and 40 Fremont people," and he expects to find more structures as the diggers move into the heart of the village this month. Although it is too early for radio-carbon results, Mr. Marwitt Mar-witt dates the site between 1100 and 1200 A. D., or late Fremont. The village represents repre-sents the culture's thrust into in-to Southern Utah and subsequent subse-quent "blending" with the |