Category Archives: North American archaeology

Merchant Adventurers: When the Medieval Norse Sailed to the Canadian Arctic

November 14, 2012 By in Archaeology, North American archaeology, Vikings Tags: , , , , ,

Something about the strange strands didn’t fit. Patricia Sutherland spotted it right away: the weird fuzziness of them, so soft to the touch.

The strands of cordage came from an abandoned settlement at the northern tip of Canada’s Baffin Island, far above the Arctic Circle and north of Hudson Bay. There indigenous hunters had warmed themselves by seal-oil lamps some 700 years ago. In the 1980s a Roman Catholic missionary had also puzzled over the soft strands after digging hundreds of delicate objects from the same ruins….

From my story in the November 2012 issue of National Geographic.  Read the entire story here

The Secret Weapon

May 16, 2012 By in Archaeology, First Nations, Native Americans, North American archaeology Tags: , ,

Each July, along the dappled stream banks of Kodiak Island, just off the Alaska coast, a weedy looking wildflower produces a few dark-blue hooded blossoms. There is nothing particularly memorable about the appearance of Aconitum delphinifolum. Its leaves are thin and rather spiky. Its scrawny-looking stem cannot hold the weight of its flowers: its neighbors keep it upright. But this eminently forgettable looking plant, a member of the buttercup family, possesses a dark secret. Aconitum delphinifolum contains a toxin capable of killing one of the world’s largest animals, a 40-ton humpback whale. Indeed, the local Alutiiq people have long understood this: their whalers once enlisted it as a lethal weapon.

Please click here to read more.

Photo:  Humpback whales, NOAA Sanctuary collection,  Dr. Louis Herman

The Real Mrs. Miller, Businesswoman and Brothel Madam

November 5, 2010 By in Archaeology, history, North American archaeology, Uncategorized Tags: ,

At one time or another,  we’ve all seen the private workings of a 19th-century brothel,  thanks to the silver screen.  My own  favorite film on this subject happens to be something that you will only see on the Turner Movie Channel these days:   McCabe and Mrs. Miller,  directed by none other than Robert Altman.

Did Altman get any of it right?  Well,  archaeologists have dug a wide range of 19th century brothels in recent years, including a very upscale establishment in Washington D.C.  that once catered to politicians.   Now an ongoing research project by Boston University archaeologist Mary Beaudry is shedding light on the life of a brothel madam,  Mrs. Lake, and her employees at 27 and 29 Endicott Street,  Boston.   For more,  see my new post at The Last Word on Nothing.

How to Hunt Swift-Footed Game

May 4, 2010 By in Archaeology, Hunting, Native Americans, North American archaeology, Old World Archaeology, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Archaeologists in Israel have just published a new study on mysterious funnel-shaped lines that stretch for miles across the deserts of Israel,  Jordan and Egypt.  In all likelihood,  they suggest,  the lines are part of an elaborate system of drive lanes and a pit trap for hunting gazelle.  In my regular end-of-the-month blog post for Archaeology magazine,  I explore the antiquity of these big game traps,  once used to hunt everything from caribou to antelope, horses to bison.

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 119 other followers