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WeatherChannelDino t1_jbsxv8z wrote

I'm trying to learn more about trade and trade routes and came across some really interesting ones (amber trade from Lithuania, tin trade in the Near East, the Indian Ocean trade network). There are some obvious ones as well I haven't looked into (Columbian exchange, Trans Saharan trade routes, Mediterranean trade routes) but what are some less well known but still cool ones y'all know of?

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Skookum_J t1_jbtchmo wrote

Couple interesting ones.

Poverty Point, is a site in Louisiana, dating to around 3200 years ago. Stone artifacts have been found at the site made with stone from as far as Ohio or Iowa. The site is also known for these strange little baked clay objects, known as Poverty Point Objects. No one's quite sure what they're for. But they were traded all over the Eastern US. Some have been found as far away as Florida.

Another cool one is Cahokia. Located in Missouri, and dating back about 1000 years. The site was a major trade hub. Getting Obsidian from as far as the Rockies, shells from the Gulf Coast, and copper from the Great Lakes. And they produced the really intricate copper plates that were traded as far as Wisconsin and Florida.

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WeatherChannelDino t1_jbtqfr0 wrote

I remember watching a video about Cahokia and I'm super interested in them. Admittedly I don't watch as many history videos or read as much as I should but I do wanna learn more.

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BuffaloOk7264 t1_jbucrp2 wrote

Spiro Mounds in Oklahoma on the Arkansas River traded in Bois dArc blanks for building bows.

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blaspheminCapn t1_jbvdaht wrote

Many of the North American roads and trade routes were formed by migrating animals who traveled to find salt. Some of these routes are major roads and highways now.

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WeatherChannelDino t1_jbvdn7g wrote

Know what I can search for to learn more?

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blaspheminCapn t1_jbvj4nv wrote

Salt

Author Jared Diamond might have some notes about trade routes, especially the book Collapse.

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elmonoenano t1_jbyi67m wrote

If you read the Diamond book, you should also read Questioning Collapse where various experts in the fields Diamond looks at in Collapse explain the mistakes he makes.

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blaspheminCapn t1_jbz1wa0 wrote

Neat! Thank you! It's fantastic to have a contrary look at his assertions. What are a few that stood to you?

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elmonoenano t1_jbzkthr wrote

I think just the fundamental argument of the book is important b/c Diamond made the same mistake in GG&S about how societies actually exist. They don't just suddenly disappear. They are constantly adapting and changing. The Conquest of Mexico didn't happen in the short time span Diamond portrayed it as happening, it took hundreds of years, fighting was ongoing in the Yucatan until the 20th century and the state still has issues with control there and in Chiapas and the hills of Oaxaca. He takes the same kind of assumptions throughout Collapse and they just don't pan out when you look at the peoples who these experts still are working with, even though they are supposed to have "disappeared."

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blaspheminCapn t1_jc0pu9p wrote

But the Easter Island was the bedrock of that book, and there weren't any people there, correct?

I mean, when he says imagine being the last guy to cut down the last tree, that's Shel Silverstein level there.

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tatramatra t1_jc1gf1c wrote

Tin trade from Ireland in to Mediterranean dating back perhaps to Bronze Age. Ancient Greeks called Ireland "The Tin Island/s".

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its_the_abdulwahab t1_jbt7cdb wrote

One of the most obvious one, which to my surprise you have missed here is "The Silk Route", from China to the West and Middel East crossing through Central Asia. Purpose of this route was to trade Silk from China to other parts of the world at that time.

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