The United Nation’s latest climate change report forecasts bad news for a host of issues from rising food insecurity to increasing social inequality in North America unless steps are taken now to reduce global carbon emissions.

There is perhaps no one in the Inland Northwest who understands the dire consequences laid out in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) report better than Tim Kohler, a Washington State University emeritus professor of archaeology and evolutionary anthropology.

“One of the things archaeologists see that most other IPCC authors do not is that the changes are going to come more rapidly than we have ever seen in the past,” Kohler said. “Contributing to the report is really a small breakthrough for archaeology and shows that the IPCC is starting to take longer sweeps of history into account when assessing the significance of the coming climate changes.”

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Mirage News
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Not so long ago, large creatures roamed the Pullman area. Formidable beasts journeyed through the plains of the Palouse during the last Ice Age.

Fossils of mastodons, distant mammoth relatives, were found a few hours from Seattle, according to Washington State Magazine. At the site in Sequim, WSU professor Carl Gustafson uncovered evidence humans hunted the giant beasts: a spear tip embedded in a fossilized rib. Gustafson’s finding revolutionized the timeline of human presence in North America, revealing humans arrived in North America at least 800 years earlier than previously thought.

Gustafson’s discovery remains one of the most significant in WSU history. He also unearthed mammoth bones in central Washington, according to the Seattle Times. After nearly 40 years of teaching, Gustafson retired from WSU in 1998. He passed away in 2016, leaving a legacy of mammoth proportions. You can visit the Conner Museum on the ground floor of Abelson Hall to see a fossilized mammoth femur and mastodon teeth in person.

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Daily Evergreen

Limited data is available about the risks and benefits associated with breastfeeding following a positive COVID-19 diagnosis, however, scientists recently published a study which supports recommendations for lactating mothers to continue breastfeeding during and after illness.

Washington State University anthropology professor Courtney Meehan made significant contributions to the research showing that breastmilk from women infected with COVID-19 provides natural protection to their infants against the virus.

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The Lewiston Tribune

It was the worst time to be alive, according to some scientists. From 536 C.E. to 541 C.E., a series of volcanic eruptions in North and Central America sent tons of ash into the atmosphere, blocking sunlight, chilling the globe, and destroying crops worldwide. Societies everywhere struggled to survive. But for the Ancestral Pueblo people living in what today is the U.S. Southwest, this climate catastrophe planted the seeds for a more cohesive, technologically sophisticated society, a new study suggests.

“This story makes sense to me,” says Tim Kohler, an archaeologist at Washington State University, Pullman, who has studied climate impacts on the Pueblo people of different eras but was not involved in the new work. He says the disturbance and subsequent reorganization of the Ancestral Puebloans provide clues to what makes societies resilient in the face of dramatic climate change.

Climate data from tree rings from northern Arizona suggest the region suffered abnormally cold temperatures and drought between the years 534 and 569. So the Ancestral Puebloans, like people around the globe, endured the harsh weather conditions of the time. Yet within a few decades, they had bounced back and reorganized into a larger, more cohesive civilization, the team reported last week in Antiquity.

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Science 

Washington State University has selected Emeritus Professor William D. Lipe, an internationally recognized leader in the field of archaeology, to receive its highest honor: an honorary doctoral degree. In a career spanning six decades, Lipe has significantly shaped the way archaeological resources are managed and how archaeology is conducted today.

The university will grant the degree to Lipe at the fall Commencement ceremony next Saturday, Dec. 11.

In the 1990s Lipe was president of the Society for American Archaeology, a professional society that he helped to transform into an authoritative resource for archaeological practice and professional ethics. The Society has recognized him with the Distinguished Service Award, its highest honor.

He has sat on the boards of a number of professional societies and is also a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

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