The Evolution of Trails and Roads

2min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

Trails and roads evolve over time to reflect our values. And so, of course, our highways evolved to become longer, straighter, harder. So if you go looking for Native American trails, ancestral Native American trails in America, what you oftentimes find is that they're buried directly beneath our road networks. That's not a one-to-one tracing.

We have as many roads in the United States as we have streams and rivers. Produced by Caroline Kanner and Jackson Roach, with original music by Jackson Roach. Edited by Liza Yeager and Mitchell Johnson. Subscribe to The Dig Presents, and support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig. Bibliography (in order of appearance): A Field Guide to Roadside Wildflowers at Full Speed - Chris Helzer Car Country: An Environmental History - Christopher W. Wells On Trails: An Exploration - Robert Moor Snell-Rood Lab Crossings: How Road Ecology is Shaping the Future of Our Planet - Ben Goldfarb A Short History of the Blockade: Giant Beavers, Diplomacy, and Regeneration in Nishnaabewin - Leanne Betasamosake Simpson Who Belongs to the Land: An Essay on Camps, Blockades, and Indigenous Models of Remaking the World - Lou Cornum Further reading available here.