On the Trail of Fremont Shield Bearers by Elizabeth Hora

Park City Museum will host a lecture called On the Trail of Fremont Shield Bearers given by Elizabeth Hora on Wednesday, March 25, from 5-6 p.m. held at the Education and Collections Center located at 2079 Sidewinder Drive. More information can be found at www.parkcityhistory.org.

If you’ve been hiking through many of Utah’s canyons you likely have seen Fremont Shield-Bearers: a striking, if uncommon, human form that appears to hold a large circular shield in front of them or off to one side. Many past researchers have theorized the connection between Fremont shield-bearers and similar human forms in both Puebloan and Plains rock imagery traditions, but so far no quantifiable data have been suggested to evaluate the nature of their relationship, or even confirm its existence. In this presentation we will sample areas of prehistoric rock imagery to learn how their shield-bearers relate to each other in form, frequency, and time.

Elizabeth Hora is founder and Executive Director of High Desert Heritage and Research She has been a professional archaeologist for over 20 years and has worked in nearly every state in the west. Her interest in prehistoric rock imagery grew from her thesis work in the Uinta Basin studying whether environmental and population pressures may have driven territorial actions, like warfare. Now in her professional role she brings archaeological interpretations to the public and teaches about the importance of preserving cultural heritage and repatriating Native American artifacts.