Archaeology

Photo: Cathy Morris/Burke Museum
Photo: Cathy Morris/Burke Museum

Archaeology at the Burke Museum

Archaeology is the study of how people lived in the past — from thousands of years ago to recent times — through the objects they left behind. 

The Archaeology Collection is part of the Burke Museum Heritage Department and includes more than 1 million artifacts, soil samples, animal and plant remains, and their associated field records.

We care for objects from around the world, but our primary focus is the Pacific Northwest.

  • •
  • •
  • •
  • •
  • •
  • •
archy day
Photo: Burke Museum
Photo: Burke Museum

Visitors at Archaeology Family Day interact with table activities from partner organizations.

  • •
  • •
  • •
  • •
  • •
  • •
archaeology team at dino fest
Photo: Chris Snyder/Burke Museum
Photo: Chris Snyder/Burke Museum

The archaeology team chatted with visitors at Dino Fest about the differences between archaeology and paleontology.

  • •
  • •
  • •
  • •
  • •
  • •
two women carry cedar branches as they push out a wooden carved canoe onto the water
Photo: Rachel Ormiston/Burke Museum
Photo: Rachel Ormiston/Burke Museum

Nooksack Tribal Member Elizabeth Swanaset King George (right) and her granddaughter bless a Green River Canoe before its maiden voyage. Elizabeth’s father, George Swanaset Sr., carved the canoe—a replica of an original artifact found in the Green River that is a part of the Burke’s Archaeology Collections.

  • •
  • •
  • •
  • •
  • •
  • •
three young children hold a replica of a traditional tool to examine it closely
Photo: Andrew Waits
Photo: Andrew Waits

Visitors exploring how tools were used today and in the past.

  • •
  • •
  • •
  • •
  • •
  • •
small pieces of modified wood in the collection drawer
Photo: Rachel Ormiston/Burke Museum
Photo: Rachel Ormiston/Burke Museum

Ancient wooden artifacts recovered from buried wet environments require special care.

  • •
  • •
  • •
  • •
  • •
  • •
gloved hands carefully move a wetsite artifact
Photo: Rachel Ormiston/Burke Museum
Photo: Rachel Ormiston/Burke Museum

Curation is about taking special care of objects, such as this 600-year old basketry fragment, for future generations.

At a glance

Archaeology Collections

1

Million objects in the Archaeology Collection

40%

Of collections owned by other public agencies and Tribes

2,000

Linear feet of field documents, maps, photos and media

Note: As a result of a devastating ransomware attack, the Archaeology database is no longer accessible online.

Please use this form to the contact the Archaeology team for information about our collections and records.

looking down into a pit where two women and a man kneel down digging
Photo: Courtesy Peter Lape/Burke Museum
Photo: Courtesy Peter Lape/Burke Museum

Our Research

Burke archaeology collections are used by researchers from around the world to answer questions about human history, lifeways and health, past ecosystems and climate, and to reconnect to traditional knowledge.

Recent projects in our workrooms include studying the materials and weaving patterns of ancient baskets, diet of Seattle’s immigrant communities, sea mammal hunting in the Kuril Islands, river canoe construction in the Green River valley, and histories of prohibition era alcohol consumption in Seattle.

  • Curator of Archaeology Dr. Peter Lape focuses primarily on understanding how people lived on small tropical islands in Southeast Asia. He studies pottery, food residues and marine sediments to answer questions about trade, diet history and past climates.
  • Archaeology Collections Manager Laura Phillips is interested in topics that pertain to alternative and collaborative methods for researching and curating archaeological materials in light of the wealth of community knowledge about object care and preservation.

Collection Highlights

The Archaeology Collection contains artifacts, soil samples, animal and plant remains, and their associated field records.

Wetsite artifacts, such as the basketry hat pictured below, are a unique cultural resource. Waterlogged areas, such as wetlands and riverbanks create an anaerobic environment that helps preserve organic objects made from plants, bone and leather. 

The ancient hat was excavated in 1976, along with the remnants of a fish weir and fiber netting. Though it is crushed and damaged, this unusual hat retains enough of its original shape to allow contemporary weavers, such as Karen Reid-Peters, to study and recreate its ancient style. The blackened color is from the polyethylene glycol used to preserve it after removal from the wet site.

remnants of a dark woven hat found in an archaeological site
Photo: Burke Museum
Photo: Burke Museum

Archaeological evidence shows that people have been living in the Seattle area for at least 13,000 years. The Burke Museum cares for several archaeological collections from Seattle and the wider Puget Sound area, which can provide information about early Native American life.

Burke archaeological collections also cover more recent history of non-Native settlement and the growth of Seattle after the 1850’s, as well as collections from Native American settlements such as the Sba'badil site, which help illustrate how Native Americans in the Seattle area lived alongside their new neighbors.

In addition, the Burke holds one of the largest collections of Japanese-American artifacts from archaeological excavations in the world, and these collections help us learn about the early history of Japanese-Americans in Washington, as well as the early lumber milling and coal mining communities in which these immigrants often lived and worked.

close up of an old glass bottle with words "Everett Bottling" on it
Photo: Rachel Ormiston/Burke Museum
Photo: Rachel Ormiston/Burke Museum

Many public agencies and tribes in the Pacific Northwest request that the Burke Museum care for collections from their properties to ensure long-term preservation and access.

Burke Museum Archaeology curates collections for a number of government agencies, including the Washington State Department of Transportation, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Puyallup Tribe of Indians and many others. Some of these collections are stored at the Burke only temporarily while others have been deposited for long-term care. These collections are not owned by the Burke Museum. Research access may be restricted.

Learn more about Curation Services.

Curation Services

test

Photo: Digging stick handle (for digging camas and/or clams), held in trust for National Park Service, San Juan Island NHP. Cat.#SAJH 139540.

A small comparative faunal collection is being created for archaeologists with a focus on domesticated animals and small mammals to help supplement the extensive skeletal collections already available at the Burke Museum.

test

Photo: Domestic chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) bones. Burke Museum cat. no. #BMA.003.

Waterlines Project

Seattle's Past Landscapes

Founded on Indian ground by American settlers in 1851, Seattle is one of the most dramatically engineered cities in the United States. Its shorelines have been extended, lagooons filled, hills flattened, and rivers re-routed. Built on an active geological fault near a large volcano, Seattle has also been jolted by huge earthquakes, washed by tsunamis, covered by volcanic mud and ash, fluted by glaciers, and edged by rising seas. 

Visit Waterlines website

Download Waterlines map (PDF)

Public Outreach

Do you have object that you'd like to identify?

The Burke Museum specializes in artifacts and objects from the Pacific Northwest region and collections staff respond to identification requests on a time-available basis. Please note that we will not appraise your object nor authenticate items for sale. In-person object identification is only available by appointment. Please visit the Object Identification page for more info and to submit your request.

Object Identification Form

Archaeology Public Outreach Questions & Answers

We've compiled common questions about object identification, inadvertent finds, and other public outreach archaeology topics.

The Burke Museum specializes in objects and specimens from the Pacific Northwest.

Please note: We do not currently have an archaeologist on staff who specializes in the Southwest or Mesoamerica. However, we are happy to get you in contact with specialists who can help.

The Burke Museum does not provide written certificates of authenticity or valuation (appraisals), nor opinions on the monetary value of objects for the general public. The public is welcome to contact the American Society of Appraisers, the Appraisers Association of America or the International Society of Appraisers for assistance.

 

If the site you are concerned about is on your property there are a few things you should do. First, limit impacts to the site. Don’t call attention to the site or tell too many people about it. This decreases the chance of looting at the site.

If it is an archaeological site, report it to the Washington State Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation (DAHP). The site can then be recorded, with the landowner’s permission, and will add to the general archaeological knowledge about our region. Be sure to inquire about incentives such as tax breaks that are available to land owners. For more information about protecting your site see the information on site stewardship provided by the DAHP.

If the site you are concerned about is not on your property, please contact us and we can help you communicate your concerns to the appropriate legal official. State, federal, and tribal properties for the most part already have people working to protect sites on their property. However, they are often in charge of large regions and thus always appreciate it when the public aids in site stewardship. If you believe that an archaeological site on private property is being destroyed it is appropriate to communicate this information to the DAHP as soon as possible.

If you happen to come across an artifact on a property other than your own you should leave the artifact where it is. It is illegal to remove artifacts from land you do not own, both public and private. We recommend that if you have a camera handy that you photograph the object in place and the area around it. If possible, take a GPS coordinate or draw a detailed map of where the artifact can be found. Then contact the Burke Museum or the Washington State Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation to report your find.

If you found this artifact on State, Tribal, or Federal lands you should contact the land manager and ask to speak to a cultural resource specialist. If you are confused about whom the appropriate land management agency might be the Burke Museum is happy to help you locate this information. It is also appropriate to contact the Washington State Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation to report your find. If you find an artifact on private property that you do not own you should inform the landowner. Your find may contribute greatly to our knowledge of the region!

If you inadvertently come across human remains on your property or elsewhere, stop your activities in the area immediately. It is against the law to knowingly disturb a human burial.

The Burke Museum is happy to help facilitate the transfer of human remains to the appropriate Native American Tribe, or provide guidance on this process. However, there are both federal and state laws that govern the recovery of human remains. For this reason if you find human remains of any kind in Washington State, you are required by law to notify the county coroner and local law enforcement by calling 911. This is a necessary step in order to allow the medical examiner to determine whether or not they are human, and whether or not they are Native American. The discovery of human remains is first treated as a crime scene in order to rule out any recent criminal activities.

There are a number of laws in place that protect human burials. On public property (including federal and tribal land) the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) provides guidelines for protecting Native American graves. On state and private lands, the Washington State Indian Graves and Records Act makes it is a felony to knowingly disturb an Indian grave.

If you have any questions about human remains please do not hesitate to contact Justice McNeeley, Repatriation Manager, 206.616.7318 or jdmn@uw.edu.

Research Requests

Collections study grants provide financial assistance for graduate students and post-doctoral researchers to study the collections of the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture (UWBM). Special consideration will be given to projects related to natural history or cultural heritage of the Pacific Northwest, as well as to interdisciplinary projects spanning more than one collection. For more information about collections, contact the relevant collections manager or search the relevant database online. 

Applications for the 2027 grant cycle will be due December 15, 2026. The application link will be posted to this page when available. 

The Burke Museum actively encourages research on all of its collections. Interested researchers should contact us to obtain information on available collections, the research process, and to schedule an appointment to discuss an individual research plan. 

Archaeology regularly offers scholarships to support students, cultural experts and other researchers. Archaeology has some research equipment available to borrow. Learn more about Archaeology Collections Scholarships. 

Researchers must complete a preliminary Research Request Form PDF. Once your submission has been received, our Collections Manager will reach out to learn more about your project. Before beginning work, researchers will be asked to agree to our department’s conditions of access (see Research Access Policy PDF). For collections access that may result in publications or presentations, researchers may also be asked to submit a one-page description of the proposed research.

Forms:

Research Access Policy (PDF) 

Research Request Form (PDF) 

Sample Research Proposal (PDF) 

General Archaeology Questions & Answers

We’ve compiled answers to some of the most common questions we receive. Have another question that you need help with? Contact us. 

Requests for borrowing objects for museum exhibits are considered on a case-by-case basis. We cannot lend objects to individuals.

For more information, please refer to our Culture Collections Loan Policy (PDF) and contact us.

Our staff is able to answer questions and provide information on a time-available basis. For more details about identification and how to prepare to have something identified, see the Burke Museum Object Identification Request page.

We are actively growing both our object and archival collections. If you wish to make a donation, please contact us.

Yes, the Burke Museum works closely with tribes throughout the U.S., meeting the letter and spirit of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation act (NAGPRA). The Burke also works with other communities and countries to repatriate ancestors and sensitive artifacts. Learn more about Burke Museum Repatriation.

Please review the information on the Copyright & Images page, which includes relevant forms and additional instructions then contact us to request an image.

We couldn’t do what we do without volunteers! Visit our Volunteer page for more information about Burke Museum volunteer opportunities and to view current openings.

Additional Resources

We've compiled several online resources from outside of the Burke Museum that may also be of interest.

Association for Washington Archaeology

Department of Anthropology

University of Washington

Washington Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation

Washington State Curation Summit Group

Washington State Tribal Directory (PDF)

Land Acknowledgment

The Burke Museum stands on the lands of the Coast Salish Peoples, whose ancestors have resided here since time immemorial. Many Indigenous peoples thrive in this place — alive and strong.

two women open a collection cabinet with artifacts inside it

Support Archaeology

Your gift makes it possible! We couldn't do what we do without generous donor support for collections care, research and public outreach. 

Donate Today

Photo: Rachel Ormiston/Burke Museum
Photo: Rachel Ormiston/Burke Museum