Road Scholar Live, Virtual Lecture: Tracing Sacred Routes - Ancient Americas

While today’s roadways often mark economic connections, many ancient roads served sacred functions — used for parading divine statues, hosting large-scale processions or aligning with astronomical events. Join archaeologist and religious studies scholar Dr. Robert Weiner for an online exploration of ceremonial roadways in the ancient Americas, including the ritual roadways of Chaco Canyon, Maya sacbeob (“white roads”), Inca ceques and the Nazca lines. Together, these examples reveal how movement, space and belief were deeply intertwined in ancient American cultures.

Rob Weiner is a postdoctoral fellow in the Society of Fellows at Dartmouth College, where he is affiliated with the Department of Religion. His research focuses on Chaco Canyon, with particular emphasis on monumental roads, ritual and religion, gambling, and Navajo oral traditions. More broadly, he is interested in comparative cultural studies and the role of religion in the big picture of human history. Rob earned a Ph.D. from the University of Colorado Boulder and B.A. and M.A. degrees from Brown University.

While the lecture is online, we will be watching live and can ask questions of the presenter!