b'TRADE HISTORYinNorthandSouthDakota,Meyersays,noting that large bison kill sites dating from 1,500 to 1,800 years ago suggest barter in pemmican, along with desirable items like bison robes, grizzly-bear claws, eaglefeathersandelk-toothpendants.Inreturn, they would have received Knife River flint, valued for arrowhead production.Meyer has also seen 4,000-year-old shells from the Pacific Northwest, as well as later examples of shellsSurveying and Geomaticsfrom Florida and the Caribbean or possibly Baja Cali-fornia. And then occasionallyand these are rare and exoticthere were gorgets found: large discs of marine shells that have a couple of holes bored inA trusted partner withthem so you can wear them around your neck, he says. They were probably made in professional craftoffices in British Columbia,houses and came up the Mississippi River, especially through the ancient city of Cahokia, a city of aboutAlberta, Saskatchewan,20,000 people just across the river from present-day St. Louis that had its heyday around AD 1100 to 1300. Manitoba and Ontario.I think its worth noting, adds Meyer, that along the Saskatchewan River, we have found that every 80 to 100 kilometres there is a major rendezvous site. Here, Cree peoples who wintered in small groups came together once or twice a year for social and ceremonialgatheringsthatlikelyincludedtrading as well. Grand Rapids (misTpaiwistik) and The Pas (opaiskweyaiw)areamongahalf-dozenlikelyloca-tions. These sites may have been used as long as 3,000 and 6,000 years ago, Meyer says, and the fur traders built their posts on these sites. It looks like the European traders were just inserting themselves into an existing trading network.Now, the evolution is running in a different direction, asGarnons-WilliamsandIITIObuildIndigenous trade networks back into the global framework. Last October, Queens Law entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with IITIO to support IPETCA, joiningLand Surveyingthe University of Oklahomas College of Law and New Zealands University of Waikato Faculty of Law to workMapping & GIScollaboratively in exploring legal and policy tools that can be used to support the principles in IPECTA. Forestry & EnvironmentalGarnons-Williams sees the potential as revolutionary,Pipeline Constructionnot just for Indigenous communities, but for the world. Its been documented that if we continue going alongPipeline Integritythis current system of Keynesian economic capitalism, weregoingtoendupbankruptenvironmentally.3D Scanning & UAVWe need to look at other ways of doing business, he says. Mobile MappingWe can show the world it doesnt have to be that way.Custom PortalsIndigenous trade can take into account the Seventh Generation concept: take only what you need, and if youre having a negative effect now, then maybe you should reconsider what youre doing, Garnons-Williams explains. Its that kind of value system thatgeoverra.com / 1-800-465-6233I think could be useful in terms of showing the world that there are other means of conducting business. Aboriginal BUSINESS REPORT51'