Wade Campbell – Exploring the Rise of Navajo Pastoralism in the (Peri)Colonial US Southwest

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The rise of a pastoral tradition among early Diné (Navajo) communities in the American Southwest circa AD 1700 represents an important turn in the history of the region. Recent work including an ethnoarchaeological study of contemporary Diné herding practices and a systematic study of Gobernador Phase (AD 1626-1776) Navajo sites in Dinétah, the traditional Navajo homeland in northwest New Mexico, provide new data with which to begin to evaluate early Navajo sheepherding practices. This talk will discuss how archaeological studies can help to shed light on the dynamic history of Navajo sheepherding and its continued importance to the 21st century Diné community.

Wade Campbell is a Diné archaeologist and Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Boston University. Wade’s research examines the relationships between Diné communities and other local groups in the U.S. Southwest from the 17^th century to the present day. Wade is engaged with a range of questions related to longer-term patterns of Navajo settlement and economic activity across the greater Four Corners region, with a particular focus on incipient Indigenous pastoralism and related shifts in land-use, social organization, & diet/subsistence practices. Among his awards are a Ford Foundation Pre-Doctoral Fellowship and the AAHS 2021 Hayden Paper Prize.

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