Venetian Beads at 15th Century Alaskan Site

[violsva]

Blue Beads in the Tundra

Note that the first sentence of this article contains a really major error: the actual "first European item[s] ever to arrive in North America" were on the other site of the continent, in Newfoundland, and at least 400 years older. (The Norse also landed, though did not settle, on the mainland at Labrador.) What the archaeologist quoted actually says is “[t]his was the earliest that indubitably European materials show up in the New World by overland transport.”

It's really neat because we knew the Silk Road facilitated trade between Europe and East Asia (earlier than we'd expected!), and we knew there was cultural movement and interchange around the entire high Arctic region, but we hadn't had hard evidence connecting all of these trade routes together.

Comments

[sanguinity]

Oh, that is very cool.

[ursula]

Oh, awesome! Thanks for the link!

[glitterary]

Ahhhhh, that’s SO cool!! I’m betraying my Eurocentrism because I’d never considered the indigenous trade of European items, but it makes so much sense and is absolutely fascinating. Thank you for sharing this!