Alfred W. Bowers Laboratory of Anthropology

04/17/2026

Around the world, many cultures celebrate the Lunar New Year, which occurred in February this year and marked the beginning of the Year of the Horse in many Asian calendars. In this post, the AACC and the Bower’s Lab are teaming up to celebrate not just horses, but some of the communities and organizations who preserve these strong cultural traditions in Idaho.

Many Asian diaspora communities celebrate the Lunar New Year with gifts and firecrackers. They also associate the holiday with the color red, as seen in the ribbon on the Japanese horse figure (Figures 1 & 2). Figure 2 shows a collection of artifacts from the AACC that might have been used to celebrate the Lunar New Year or that are associated with horses.

The Bower’s Lab isn’t “horsing around” either with a temporary exhibit of material from the Appaloosa Museum, now on display in the CLASS Annex. This exhibit celebrates the history of Idaho’s state horse as well as the close relationships between humans and horses. Feel free to drop by!

If you want to join in the celebration, you can “trot” on down to the Hagerman Fossil Beds in Southern Idaho. With the largest assemblage of the prehistoric Hagerman horse (Idaho’s state fossil), they have a whole year’s worth of events to commemorate these magnificent creatures!

Image 1- The text “Why the long face? –It’s the year of the horse!” surrounds a Japanese artifact, a small, straw horse with a red ribbon (AACC-2001-85).

Image 2 – A collection of artifacts from the AACC including the Japanese straw horse (AACC-2001-85), a small horse shoe (AACC-2020-324), DOT firecrackers (AACC-98-12, AACC-2003-94), decorative firecrackers shaped like birds (AACC-2003-392, AACC-2003-396), and the books Firecrackers: The Art and History (Dotz, Mingo & Moyer 2000) and Good Luck Life: The Essential Guide to Chinese American Celebrations and Culture (Gong 2005).

Image 3 – Bower’s Lab comparative horseshoe collection, used by archaeologists and historians to identify historic horseshoes.

Image 4 – Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument calendar of events for the Year of the Horse.

02/25/2025

**If you are a current Idaho Power employee, please apply through the Employee Portal. Application Deadline: 02/28/2025 at 11:59 pm Mountain Time # of Positions: 1 Job Type: Seasonal (Fixed Term) (Seasonal) Job End Date: 09/30/2025 Exemption Status: Non-Exempt Pay Range: 30.93 - 37.25 Hourly Minimum...

01/14/2025

📢 Announcing an opportunity for Pullman-based students to get involved with the Museum of Anthropology! The Museum of Anthropology is hosting an informational session about volunteering this Thursday, January 16 from 3-4pm. Come by the museum on the first floor of College Hall learn about the chance to boost your resume and contribute to the museum!

11/05/2024

Mark your calendars as we welcome Idaho author Randy'L Teton to Moscow in partnership with the University of Idaho Library on November 13th at 6:30pm at the 1912 Center. Teton will present on her recent publication, It's Her Story: Sacajawea, and copies of the book will be available for purchase. Can't make it on the 13th? Teton will also be at the University of Idaho Library on Nov. 14th at 12:30pm. Both programs are open to all and free to attend.

10/08/2024

Exciting news: There's a new exhibit in the WSU Museum of Anthropology! The exhibit is titled The Braceros of Today: Contratados and was curated by undergraduate anthropology major Emiltze Cervantes-Contreras, museum curator Madison Pullis, museum director and archaeology faculty Dr. Samantha Fladd, and archaeology faculty Dr. Rachel Horowitz. The opening reception is Tuesday, October 8th from 4-5pm. Opening remarks begin at 4pm in the Museum of Anthropology, followed by an open house with refreshments. Any and all welcome to attend, whether you're simply interested in the exhibit, a student, staff, faculty, or a member of the community! Hope to see you there!

10/08/2024

Surrounded by stacks of books, scattered papers and the chaos of everything an anthropology professor needs, you might be able to find Mark Warner in his office when he’s not teaching. If not there, he is usually right down the hall in the archaeology lab, helping grad students with their…

10/08/2024

Renfrew Colloquium Today:
Exploring Idaho Lookouts - Legacy and Future Perspectives
12:30-1:30 p.m. PT
Andrea Alberto Dutto, Art & Architecture & Michael Decker, College of Graduate Studies
This session presents two different research perspectives on fire lookouts in Idaho. The first, by Michael Decker, focuses on his fieldwork as both a firewatcher and a researcher, conducting interviews with U.S. Forest Service staff and collecting photographic documentation of lookouts in Idaho’s most remote forest areas. The second presentation, by Andrea Alberto Dutto, offers reflections on the evolution of lookout towers as an architectural typology, stemming from a design studio at the College of Art and Architecture's architecture department and further developed through bibliographic research. Together, the two presentations highlight the value of lookout towers as historical heritage in forest management and as a resource for future practices in recreation and forest preservation.

10/03/2024

WSU Anthropology graduate student Alexis Crow will have a booth at Spokane Archaeology Day! It's on October 5 at the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture (Instagram: ) in Spokane, WA. Looks like it will be a fun, interactive, and educational event.

08/16/2024

08/09/2024

Hello all. Apologies for the lack of content for some time. We have been having some staffing changes. Hopefully we will start becoming much more active again soon!

In other exciting news the Donald E. Crabtree Lithic Collection website is live! You can check it out at:

The Crabtree Lithic Technology Collection is a unique representation of Donald Crabtree’s lifelong work with lithic technology, demonstrating Crabtree’s creativity and innovation in flintknapping as well as reflecting the knowledge and practices of Native and Indigenous people from around the wo...

08/21/2023

Save the date! The annual IAS Conference will be held in Boise on Saturday, Nov 4th at the Idaho Water Center and hosted by the University of Idaho. More info about conference registration coming soon, so get those papers and presentations ready! We look forward to seeing YOU soon!