Fremont Fighting and Insights into JCJ via Barb Frank

Hi all,

I heard a funny story about JCJ and thought I should pass it on. Last Friday, I went up to SUU to look at some Fremont remains. My friend Ryan Harrod (a physical anthropologist PhD candidate and expert on non-lethal violence) and I are interested in looking at Fremont remains to see if they were participating in violent behavior. Ryan and his chair, Deb Martin have been accumulating databases on violence throughout the SW. I thought it only fitting to lump the Fremont into that database. Subversive labeling as a SW culture!

In December, we went to the MPC in Provo to have a look at a few Fremont skeletons as well. Our current sample is only 16, but I guess by bioarchaeology standards, that's pretty good.  Preliminary findings show that of the eight we looked at in Provo, only two demonstrated evidence of healed cranial depression fractures (this is not counting Seamons Mound). The eight we looked at in Cedar City ALL had some form of cranial trauma. Six of the eight had healed cranial depression fractures occurring in a range of areas on the skull: parietal, occipital, and frontal. The other two had severely broken/healed noses. So, that's pretty interesting. Seems like Parowan Valley Fremont liked to rumble. I'll keep you all posted about these developments.

Now, onto the fun part! While at SUU, Barb Frank and I got to talking about Joel. She once again mentioned his "beautiful, brown beard" (remember that, Cady?) and that it was "like a beaver pelt hanging from his chin". I then proceeded to tell her the Wendover story. Since she did field school with Joel and Dave Madsen, this was a great story for her. Then, she shared a good one about Joel. She asked me if Joel had ever mentioned his field school roommate, Dave. I said he had not. This was new to me. Here goes:

At the beginning of one of the field schools (I don't know which one), Jennings had all the students line up. For some reason, Joel was running late or could not be there for this line-up. Jennings had all of the women choose their roommates and then all the men. Among the group of guys, there was one named Dave. Dave was (as Barb put it) "flaming". He was a dance major, but somehow got into the Archy fieldschool. Barb said she thinks Jennings allowed the kid to come along because he needed the field school fee money. Dave wore his hair in a samurai top-knot and dressed in saffron robes (ala Buddhist Monks). When it came time for the men to choose their roommates, they all chose each other and left Dave the odd man out (HA!). Jennings said, "Well, Dave, I guess you'll be rooming with Joel. He's not here, but you'll meet him later."

Joel shows up, realizes what's happened, and resigns himself to dealing with Dave as his roommate. Apparently, Dave was a practitioner of yoga but preferred to do it in the nude. Each morning, Dave would strip and begin his yoga in the room. Barb said that Joel was up and out of his room before anyone else was awake just to avoid the site of Dave in all of his glory. It sounds like Joel got up earlier and earlier each morning just to avoid the possibility of interacting with Dave in the mornings.

This story cracked me up. I can just picture Joel shuddering in disgust as this guy, Dave, began his morning exercises. I wanted to pass it on to all of you.