Authors: Amber Clayton
Mentors: Michael Searcy
Insitution: Brigham Young University
This summer, an excavation took place at the Hinckley Mounds, which included the recovery of many different artifacts. Artifacts found include faunal bones—the main object of my research project. The Fremont people left behind so many different things for us to find. They hunted particular animals; which can indicate which animals may have contributed most to their diets and may have also been used to contribute to other aspects of their lives. Many questions can be answered with the analysis of faunal bones: Which faunal bones show up more than others? What does the variety of animals teach us about the Fremont people at Hinckley Mounds?
Through the analysis of the faunal assemblage I will be conducting, I will be able to tell which animals are more common in the assemblage. I believe this will also be able to tell me which animals played a more prominent part in the lives of the Fremont people.
My primary goal is to determine the typology of the faunal bones by using the comparative collection at the Museum of Peoples and Cultures in order to see if I can identify the animals left behind by the Fremont people at Hinckley Mounds. Hundreds of faunal bones were found, so many of them that it will be impossible for me to analyze all of them during fall semester. However, I will strive to analyze representative sample of them so I have some good sample data. I will then use the data from 2023 and the results from the 2015 field season to write up the research for this project.