Fall 2019
Ancient ink
A chance find in Washington State University's College Hall leads to a better understanding of tattooing in early North American peoples. » More ...
Southwest United States
Spring 2017
Ends of eras
Yes, Mesa Verde is the richest archaeological preserve in America. A sanctuary of cliff dwellings. Petroglyphs. Thousands of sites holding clues to an ancient civilization. But is it too much to ask for better cell phone reception?
For two days, my wife and I meandered around the park and its environs, climbing with other tourists among the 40 rooms of Balcony House, visiting dozens of kivas—rooms for religious rituals—and walking among striped pieces of broken pottery, or “sherds,” that litter the place. But it wasn’t until we retreated to the park’s Spartan lodgings, also called kivas, that we could tap the wi-fi and fill our … » More …
Spring 2017
Gallery: Images of Mesa Verde
On-location photos of Mesa Verde National Park, Cliff Palace, and archaeological work. Read more about the civilizations that lived here in “Ends of Eras.”
Spring 2015
Gentle commerce
From humankind’s long history of violence, two chapters have come under the scrutiny of Washington State University researchers that point the way to a more peaceful world.
Tim Kohler, who has spent four decades pondering the people of the ancient southwestern United States, saw violence drop in one sector of the region as its people took up a sort of “peaceful commerce” with other groups. And Jutta Tobias ’06 MS, ’08 PhD, after helping Rwandan coffee farmers use computers to broaden their customer base, found they eventually came to think more charitably about people with whom they had been in conflict during the brutal ethnic … » More …
Winter 2014
New & noteworthy
After Artest: The NBA and the Assault on Blackness
David J. Leonard
SUNY Press, 2012
After a brawl at a Pistons-Pacers game in 2004, the NBA adopted policies to govern black players and prevent them from embracing styles and personas associated with blackness. This book by Leonard, associate professor of critical culture, gender, and race studies at Washington State University, discloses connections between the NBA’s discourse and the broader discourse of anti-black racism.
Emergence and Collapse of Early Villages
Timothy A. Kohler (editor), Mark D. Varien (editor)
University of California Press, 2012
This book examines how climate change, population size, interpersonal conflict, resource … » More …
Winter 2009
Video: Ancient DNA – bringing the past to life
Taking archeology a step beyond traditional pottery shards, Brian Kemp analyzes ancient DNA (aDNA) from bones, teeth, and desiccated feces (coprolites) to help bring prehistoric Native American cultures alive in ways never before possible. As a molecular anthropologist, Kemp compares archeological findings with genetic information to detect past demographic shifts, population interactions, and movements throughout the Americas.
By plotting aDNA together with artifacts in the ground, specific tribes in the Southwest can be seen to virtually travel across the high desert through the eons. The picture Kemp paints seems so real that one can almost hear the hunter-gatherer songs and shouts drifting in the air.
… » More …
Winter 2009
Talking turkey
As you sit down to Thanksgiving dinner, you might like to know that turkey farming in North America has been around a lot longer than you thought. New genetic tools applied to a common turkey byproduct have given turkey afficionados a lot more to think about. » More ...
Spring 2006
Ghost Towns of the Anasazi
For the past three decades, WSU archaeologists and their students have been searching the Southwest with tools ranging from trowels to computers to uncover the story of a vanished people. » More ...