Dwellers of the Rainbow~ Book Review
Dwellers of the Rainbow
The Fremont Culture in Capitol Reef Country
Rose Houk
There are many theories about the Fremont people. They were named after the Fremont river which runs through eastern Utah (check) and are dated back to 900 A.D. This book is a sneak peek into the discoveries of the Fremont culture; how they lived by what they ate, dressed in and passed their time. I took away from this book, the Fremont thrived and survived in the harsh, unpredictable rocky country of Utah. This was one of the first books I’ve read in its entirety about a specific Native American culture and it has left me wanting to learn more about the Fremont and other native cultures.
Recently my husband and I had an opportunity to visit some of these beautifully, rugged places in Utah and learn about the Fremont and even saw some of their rock art. Their rock art is in the form of petroglyphs (carved in rock), or pictographs (painted on rock), and was so unique to see. No one knows if these particular petroglyphs and pictographs are telling a story, revealing “hunting magic,” or simply doodles of a past culture. This originally sparked my interest in the Fremont people and I’d like to read more.