Women shaped cuisine, culture of ancient Cahokia
Long before corn was king, the women of Cahokia’s mysterious Mississippian mound-building culture were using their knowledge of domesticated and wild food crops to feed the thousands of Native Americans who flocked to what was then North America’s largest city, suggests a new book by a paleoethnobiologist at Washington University in St. Louis. “Feeding Cahokia” sets the record straight on America’s first farmers while offering a roadmap for rediscovering the highly nutritious native foods they once cultivated, including a North American cousin of quinoa.
Anthropology student Alena Wigodner receives NSF award
Alena Wigodner, a junior anthropology major in Arts & Sciences, has been selected for a new National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program
titled “Angel Mounds REU Site: Multidisciplinary Training for Students
in Environmental and Social Sciences through Archaeological Research.”
Archaic Native Americans built massive Louisiana mound in less than 90 days, research confirms
A massive earthen mound constructed about 3,200 years ago by Native Americans in northeastern Louisiana was built in less than 90 days, and perhaps as quickly as 30 days, according to new research in the journal Geoarchaeology. The site was recently nominated for a place on the UNESCO list of Word Heritage sites.
Find ‘wisdom and wellness’ at annual Pow Wow April 9
The 21st annual Pow Wow at Washington University in St. Louis, a festival of American Indian cultures, will be held Saturday, April 9, in the Field House. This event, hosted by the Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian Studies at the Brown School, is free and open to the public. Visitors and participants will be able to enjoy dancing, singing, drumming, arts, crafts and food. Intertribal and contest dancing take place at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. Traditional arts and crafts booths and community information booths open at 10 a.m.