Persis B. Clarkson
Caravan Archaeologies Workshop/Taller de Caravanas Arqueológicas
Caravan Thinkscape:Caravans of the North
This discussion employs a case study comparison of caravan practices in the 20th c in northern Chile and in northern Canada in order to highlight generalized ancient caravan lifeways. Ethnographers, archaeologists, and historians have studied caravans – long-distance trade via pack animals – in the remote areas of the world where caravans travel(led). Some of these areas include the Sahara in Egypt, the northern deserts of China and adjacent areas in Asia, and the Andes of South America. Comparative studies of modern (ethnography) and historical caravans and caravanning have been used to inform interpretations of archaeological expressions of caravans, particularly in regions where there is no written history until hundreds or thousands of years after the use of caravans began, such as in the Andean region. Comparative and independent studies of caravanning indicate that political, economic, social, kinship, and environmental factors played various roles in the creation and maintenance of caravan lifeways. An examination of the historic caravans of northern Canada in the 20th c. reveals compelling historical, technological, economic, social, political, and kinship comparisons to the entirety of caravan travel. The transport of goods across the northern reaches of the Canadian prairie provinces was spurred by mining and logging interests, and began with horses and donkeys, subsequently shifting to gasoline engine power when they became available, via “cat (caterpillar tractor) freight trains“. In northern Chile, camelid caravans had been replaced in many instances by horse and donkey caravans to haul the goods required for mining copper and nitrate. As vehicles became available, the horse and donkey caravans were replaced at the same time that roads were built, often along the same trails that had been used by animal caravans for hundreds and thousands of years. While rapid and convenient vehicle transport is widely available in both areas, transport that is dependent upon and limited by specific environmental parameters has not been universally replaced, and continues to fill important social, economic, and political roles that can be considered in reviewing and reconstructing ancient caravan lifeways.