Ancient American Civilization

Jeff Reber was our quest speaker this week. Jeff is the owner of a commercial real estate company here in St. George called Real Estate Asset Strategies. They do traditional commercial brokerage i.e. leasing, acquisition and dispositions and management. They manage and office in the Tower at Ancestor Square, just above the Painted Pony Restaurant.

Jeff is also an amateur archeologist with a focus on Mesoamerican cultures. He has spent the last 20 years studying, traveling, and exploring archeological sites in the Yucatan, Belize, Mexico, Peru and many locations throughout the United States.

Jeff’s topic this morning was focused on the diversification of pre-Columbian cultures throughout the North, Central, and South American regions. Jeff pointed out our expanding knowledge of the extensive continental trade routes that enabled these pre-Columbian cultures to interact through trade commerce. He also pointed out the extensive diversification of cultures that existed at the time of “first contact” with the European explorers, and that these cultures represented a much more complex and integrated society then many of us could imagine.

With new discoveries being made on a monthly basis throughout the Mesoamerican region, our perception and understanding of these cultures is changing dramatically. The interaction between cultures for a period of approximately 4,000 years is complex and will take many more years of work, interpretation of exotic languages, and exploration of the estimated 100,000+ archeological sites that lie predominately undisturbed throughout South and Central America.

Jeff and his wife Susan plan on many more adventurous trips to remote locations in Belize and the highland regions of Mexico over the next few years. He has promised to come back in the future with updates on his discoveries and the discoveries within the world of archeology.