Importance of Corn in Utah Archaeology - Stay Curious, Utah!
Corn was important to many peoples' diets in Utah for thousands of years. The transition from a hunter-gather diet to an agricultural, corn-based diet led to many changes in material culture which are reflected in the archaeological record. Join NHMU educators and archaeologist Ishmael Medina to understand how he uses archaeological data and modern traditional ecological knowledge to understand farming distributions. His research helps explain why maize appears and disappears from Utah's archaeological record. We will have a Q&A for 3rd-6th and 6th-12th graders. We will also have a maize-themed storytime reading for our younger learners with an NHMU educator.
Recorded Q&A with Archaeologist Ishmael Medina - May 18, 2023
Ishmael Medina is an archaeologist and ethnographer who is interested in understanding human-environment interactions. Ishmael is a graduate student at the University of Utah and a research assistant at the Natural History Museum of Utah. Ishmael's work is specifically interested in understanding the shift from hunter-gather societies to farming societies in Utah.
Have questions for us? Please contact us if you want to know more about the program or the Museum.