From Ocean to Desert: Analysis of Prehistoric Shell Through Type, Use, and Trade Routes to Petrified Forest National Park

Summary

Shell jewelry at Petrified Forest National Park has been found from Basketmaker II through Pueblo IV. Since there are no local sources of marine shell, it is important to understand how trade routes from the Gulf of California and the Gulf of Mexico directly affected how shell was traded to this region. Shell recovered from archaeological contexts curated in the Petrified Forest National Park collections were typed according to class, genus, and species and were sourced to the Gulf of California or the Gulf of Mexico. This analysis was conducted to determine if the use of shell was dependent on the type of shell or its procurement location. A literature review was then conducted to determine possible trade routes from both the Gulf of California and the Gulf of Mexico to Petrified Forest National Park. Ultimately this project will enhance the understandings of shell use and procurement on the Colorado Plateau.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Recent Archaeological Research in Petrified Forest National Park

Keywords

Spatial Coverage