College of Arts and Sciences Native Americans
Ancient blanket made with 11,500 turkey feathers
December 3, 2020 jsteward
"Blankets or robes made with turkey feathers as the insulating medium were widely used by Ancestral Pueblo people, but little is known about how they were made because so few such textiles have survived due to their perishable nature," said Bill Lipe, emeritus professor of anthropology at WSU and lead author of a new paper in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.
Lipe and a team of archaeologists analyzed an approximately 800-year-old turkey feather blanket from » More …
Published research/scholarship/creative work
Pueblo people
Cultural identity inspires classical music professor
September 30, 2020 jsteward
A self-described "band kid" growing up in Kennewick, Washington, Jacqueline Wilson has always found music to be a respite from the stresses of life.
Wilson, a new assistant professor in the School of Music, specializes in the bassoon, a double-reed woodwind instrument that she cherishes for its versatility and rich » More …
The curation crisis
More than 8,500 years ago, a group of people used a rock shelter at the confluence of the Palouse and Snake Rivers as a base camp. When rediscovered in the early 1950s, the shelter amazed scientists, including Washington State University archeologist Richard Daugherty, with its wealth of artifacts—and the age of its human remains. Named after the property owner at the time, the Marmes Rockshelter was soon inundated by waters from the recently closed Lower Monumental Dam on the Snake. Although a levee had been built by the Army Corps of Engineers to keep the shelter dry, the Corps neglected to take into account the layer of permeable gravel beneath the site. Within three days, it was all under water. » More …
Marmes Rockshelter
Shannon Tushingham
Washington state history