PULLMAN, WASHINGTON—According to a statement released by Washington State University, a team of researchers including Bill Lipe and Shannon Tushingham analyzed a turkey feather blanket thought to have been crafted by Ancestral Pueblo people some 800 years ago in the Upland Southwest. Such blankets would have provided warmth as people expanded into colder regions, Lipe explained. The researchers determined that the blanket, which measures about 42 inches long and 39 inches wide, was produced by wrapping some 11,500 downy feathers around nearly 200 yards of yucca fiber cord. An examination of wild turkey pelts suggests it would have taken the feathers of four to ten turkeys, depending upon the size of the feathers, to produce a blanket of this size. But the feathers were likely to have been collected from domesticated birds during their natural molting periods, Lipe said. Turkeys may have been treated as individuals important to the household, he added, since their remains are often found intact and intentionally buried at Ancestral Pueblo archaeological sites predating A.D. 1100 to 1200. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. To read about an Ancestral Pueblo tattoo needle found in Utah, go to "Artifact."
