ISSR Scholars Mentor Seminar | "Threading the Needle: Recognizing Early Sewing and Bone Working Traditions in Alaska" with Briana N. Doering (University of Wyoming)
"Threading the Needle: Recognizing Early Sewing and Bone Working Traditions in Alaska"
Sewing is a rich tradition in the far North that combines intergenerational knowledge with creativity to make beautiful garments that are impressively resistant to the cold. Yet, we know little about the history of this tradition. In this talk, I will share examples of several bone tools and needles recovered from a 13,000-year-old archaeological residence in central Alaska. These artifacts represent the oldest examples of eyed needles recovered from the Americas to date, which were identified as birds using a new protein-based method (ZooMS). Indigenous collaborators have suggested a collection of bird bone tubes from the same context are early evidence of a women's ritual that is still practiced in central Alaska today. Combined, these diverse ways of knowing help to shed light on the lives of the first women in the Americas.
About the speaker
Briana N. Doering is a North American archaeologist interested in understanding how past people shaped and were shaped by their environment. She undertakes multiscalar research projects with mixed methods that draw on traditional knowledge, zooarchaeology, isotopic dietary reconstruction, and geospatial modeling to reconstruct the past. She currently directs field projects at three sites in central Alaska, Swan Point, Bachner, and Niidhaayh Na', and co-directs investigations of the Colby Mammoth Site, in Wyoming. She has led field schools in Alaska and Wyoming, and overseen three successful MA theses. In 2023, Dr. Bree was awarded a five-year National Science Foundation CAREER award to continue her research with Dene investigating past central Alaskan environments through the lens of cooking.