A team of researchers has mapped a previously unknown 5,000-year-old trade network titled the 'Rhyolite and Jasper' Route, which stretched across the Appalachian Highlands. By tracing the geochemical signatures of stone tools found in the Ohio River Valley back to specific quarries in the Blue Ridge Mountains, archaeologists have proven that Late Archaic populations engaged in long-distance exchange of high-quality volcanic stone and jasper.
The findings suggest that these ancient communities were far more mobile and interconnected than previously believed. The route served not only for the trade of utilitarian tools but also for symbolic lithic artifacts used in ritual burials. This discovery reshapes the understanding of North American pre-colonial economics, showing that complex logistical networks for raw materials were established millennia before the rise of the Mississippian civilizations.