Curator’s Corner

turkey

Curator’s Corner: The Ever-Humble Turkey

by Amanda Mather, Curator of Collections One of the few domesticated animals (dogs, llamas, guinea pigs, and Muscovy ducks being the others) in the New World, turkeys were ubiquitous in the Southwest. Although there is some debate among archaeologists as to whether turkeys were domesticated in Mesoamerica, most evidence suggests that they were first domesticated in…

Read More

Curator’s Corner: Pumpkins!

by Amanda Mather, Curator of Collections The humble pumpkin, or Cucurbita pepo has a fascinating history, and a really interesting present. Pumpkins are actually just one variety of winter squash, the pumpkin is simply the most recognizable. One of the oldest domestic crops, humans have been having their pumpkins and eating them too for about…

Read More

Curator’s Corner: Annual Sunflowers

by Amanda Mather, Curator of Collections Even long after agriculture had taken a firm grip amongst Pueblo people here in northern New Mexico, wild plant resources continued to be eaten, used medicinally, and, of course, used to make all manner of stuff. We can still see New Mexicans enjoying wild plant foods — I saw…

Read More
Threshing Sled

Curator’s Corner: What is That Thing?

A Threshing Sled by Amanda Mather So, you may wonder—what is this thing you’re looking at? Is it a cart of a thousand tiny cuts? A medieval torture device? The world’s meanest sled? Well, it’s pretty much the last one—it’s a threshing sled! Take this bad boy, throw some wheat on a threshing floor, then…

Read More
Buffalo Gourd

Object of the Month

Buffalo Gourd by Amanda Mather Since we are about to (finally!) start into the hot long days of summer I thought I would talk about something that always makes me think of those fun spicy days! Buffalo Gourd, or Curbita foetidissima if you want to get fancy science talk about it, is an indigenous species…

Read More
Yucca

Object of the Month

Yucca by Amanda Mather Man, what would we do without the yucca plant? I mean, we eat it, we use it for fiber, we use it for needles and awls, we make sandals out of it, we make soap out of it, we love the stuff! It is also, real dork fact here, the official…

Read More

Object of the Month

The Macuahuitl by Amanda Mather The MACUAHUITL is possibly the coolest thing ever. What is it you ask? It was the Mesoamerican sword/chainsaw/club of nightmares. A long wooden handle with a paddle at the end that was covered on the outside edge with super sharp square or round pieces of obsidian. The obsidian was inserted…

Read More
Corn cobs

Object of the Month

by Amanda Mather Corn, or maize, began it’s domesticated life in South Central Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Some of the earliest known examples of corn in the world come from the Mexican state of Oaxaca and you can go visit the cave from whence it came yourself. It’s called Guilá Naquitz Cave and it’s…

Read More
Spanish Colonial scissors

Object of the Month

by Amanda Mather This month we talk about one of those things that, although we use constantly, it’s easy to forget what a revolution they must have been. Think of the world without scissors! Invented in Mesopotamia around 4,000 years ago, the scissors of yesteryear are often not the type we think of or see…

Read More
Singer Sewing Machine

Object of the Month

by Amanda Mather The sewing machine was invented in 1755 by a German, but was not really a thing that got off the ground until the mid-1850’s in America. The sewing machine has an oddly tumultuous history. It looks like Singer, as in Isaac Merritt Singer, ripped the thing off from a gent named Elias…

Read More