History of the United States in 100 Objects # 3: Scarlet Macaw Feather Sash, ca. 1150 AD (Episode #46)

A sash made of yucca rope, leather, squirrel pelt, and scarlet macaw feathers – Found in Lavender Canyon, Utah, and dated to Ancestral Pueblo Civilization, ca. 1150 AD. Made with more than 2000 tiny macaw feathers, this sash is unique in the archeological record, probably the most complex and the most personal artifact ever found from the ancestral Pueblo civilization. Also informally called “Anasazi” and known for its cliff palaces, this civilization flourished for several centuries before collapsing in the 1100s, around the time when this complex and mysterious object was left behind in a cave.

Special thanks to the Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum for their help and support and making this lecture.

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