When
Free. No RSVP necessary.
A presentation by Dr. James T. Watson, associate director and curator of bioarchaeology at the Arizona State Museum and professor of anthropology at the UA School of Anthropology
The Sonoran Desert provides a rich bounty of natural resources that sustained indigenous cultures for a tens of thousands of years. The introduction of domesticated cultigens, specifically maize (corn), and beginning of farming the desert’s fertile waterways was a ‘non-event’ that was slowly incorporated into existing lifeways. Yet, farming began to change how the Native peoples of the region interacted with their environment and constructed their communities. This talk will take you through the rich cultural tapestry we can reconstruct from the archaeological record from 4,000 years ago to the present and explore how the abundance of the Sonoran Desert continued to be a critical part that sustained Native communities.