Ron Parker – “Chasing Centuries: The Search for Ancient Agave Cultivars across the Desert Southwest”

Chasing Centuries is a one-of-a-kind travel-history presentation based up a recently published book of the same name (Sunbelt Publications — Jan 2019) that takes the reader along on an exciting and little-known adventure at the crossroads of archaeology and botany. Travel with author Ron Parker as he explores the depth and duration of human/agave coevolution across the desert southwest, and discovers unusual agaves apparently associated with archaeological sites long since abandoned by residents of extinct ancient cultures. These agaves appear to be anthropogenic cultivars; living archaeological relics developed and planted by indigenous pre-Columbian Native Americans, and many are still growing exactly where they were planted and cultivated many hundreds of years ago. Mr. Parker will first discuss the pre-Columbian cultures associated with these agaves, then consider the reasons for their development and cultivation before taking a hard look at the recently described species themselves, and considering their ultimate fate.