NHS Artifact Talk – Sat, Mar 2

NHS Artifact Talk Series
March 2, 2019
1:00 – 2:00 pm

We are bringing back a fun lecture series called NHS Artifact Talk.

The guest lecturer Julien Pelligrini, Research Associate, NSM-CC has been researching an important artifact located within the Nevada Gallery. His lecture is called  Atlatls, Darts, and Spindles of the Rollins Cache. This series is to promote the amazing history surrounding materials within the NHS collection.

Darts or Spindles???? Come learn and help unravel the mystery of these artifacts at the Nevada Historical Society.

Artifacts from antiquity of unknown age that likely have been misidentified for over five decades are being brought into new light. In the 1950s, discovery of an atlatl cache in a dry cave along the shore of extinct Winnemucca Lake, Nevada by an amateur archaeologist named Rollins added to the impressive array of Great Basin archaeological finds of that era.

The cache included a complete atlatl unlike any others discovered before or since, an intricately woven decoration including human hair and cordage, awls, a buckskin pouch filled with sewing needles, and multiple, intricately carved and highly polished wooden implements unique to the Northern Great Basin. These artifacts were wrapped in catlow twined basketry, bound with a net fragment, and housed inside a whole kit fox hide scabbard. From the beginning, researchers believed the wooden implements found in this cache were atlatl dart foreshafts. However, my own research suggests otherwise.

Admission is $5 for adults; free for children 17 and younger and for Nevada Historical Society members. Attendees are encouraged to arrive early as seating is limited in our Events Space. For details, call 688-1190.