Brown Bag Lecture - Prehistoric Trade in the Southwest

Trade has been, and is, a major component of human interactions, both on an individual, as well as for an entire culture. Evidence of exchange characterizes the earliest appearance of humans in the New World. In the Southwest evidence of trade for marine shells from the Pacific Coast are found in Clovis sites dating to 11,000 years ago. Through time, the involvement of prehistoric people in trade increased until exchange networks extended from the Pacific Ocean to the Rio Grande and from Yellowstone to central Mexico. This talk will show the kinds of items that were traded from these areas into the Southwest and will discuss that it was not only the exchange of objects, but the ideas that accompanied them, that makes trade an important stimulus for the growth and development of culture. Peter Pilles, Archaeologist, Coconino National Forest.