Native American Culturally Modified Trees | John Anderson | TEDxColoradoSprings

This TEDx talk tells the fascinating story of Culturally Modified Trees (CMTs) modified by the indigenous people of the United States and Canada. These CMTs are living Native American cultural artifacts which were used for navigational, medicinal, burial, ceremonial and storytelling purposes. These CMTs can still be found today hiding in plain sight all around us and deserve to be added to our historical and archaeological records. More of John's work can be found at www.JWander.com John Wesley Anderson, MBA, is a published author, storyteller and TEDx speaker. He enjoyed a 30-year law enforcement career, retiring as a sergeant after 22 years with the Colorado Springs Police Department, followed by 8 years serving as the elected sheriff for El Paso County, Colorado. After being term-limited as Sheriff John retired from public safety and worked homeland security for ten years in the corporate world. He retired from Lockheed Martin in 2012 to launch a small consulting business allowing him the freedom to pursue his love of history, writing, and the arts. Although John has traveled around the world, including several adventures on a catamaran sailing the Caribbean, three corporate security assignments into a combat zone on the Horn of Africa and landing on an aircraft carrier at sea in the Pacific Ocean, he remains most fascinated by the rich history and art discovered in his own backyard in the American Southwest. John has given over 200 talks, walks and book signings and his latest book, Native American Culturally Modified Trees of Colorado is available on Amazon. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx