Lecture Series – Central Arizona as a Crossroads in the Past and Present – Saturday, March 1st, 2025

Central Arizona is often characterized as a crossroads where many different people and environments intersect. This region spans rugged lands between the upland Colorado Plateau and the lowland Sonoran desert and includes the traditional homeland for many different Indigenous groups as well as many more recent arrivals from Spanish expeditions, to Mexican and European communities, and the US and Arizona territories. The idea of this region as a crossroads is not, however, a new phenomenon. In this talk I discuss the deep history of cultural mixing and long- distance interaction centered on central Arizona and the Verde Valley in particular. I also discuss how archaeologists identify and study cultures in the ancient past.

Matthew Peeples Ph.D. is an Associate Professor at Arizona State University and serves as Director for the ASU Center for Archaeology and Society in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change. Peeples is an archaeologist by training but works to integrate archaeological data with other social sciences to address questions of human social networks and identities. 

Map: Catherine Gilman, courtesy of Archaeology Southwest.