The AACC had a busy fall semester.  Undergraduate student Gayle Dixon catalogued various Chinese and Japanese additions to the Collection.  For her directed study project, she researched Chinese ceramics with stacking rings  (unglazed bands) in order to learn more about an unusual dish with a stacking ring found at a Chinese archaeological site at Warren, Idaho.
Student volunteer Maaike Davidson efficiently entered a number of donated books and artifacts into our database, and student volunteer Michelle Chin skillfully mended some broken ceramics.   Volunteer Claire Chin began entering published articles into the AACC bibliographical database, measured artifacts prior to their being catalogued, and continued to work her magic on our organizationally-challenged file folders of ephemeral reference materials (the "vertical file").  Jenny Gao and student Saki Kurosaka diligently kept up with our Chinese and Japanese translation needs.  Many thanks to all of them for their help!
The AACC has received several major artifact donations in recent months.  The Berkeley, California firm of F. S. Louie & Co., a supplier of tablewares to Chinese restaurants, is going out of business.  Owner Sherwin Louie graciously donated many, many examples of tablewares in several patterns, as well as decorative and utilitarian items.  Alison Stenger, Portland, contributed an important collection of Chinese brown-glazed utilitarian wares, as well as six Ming dynasty teacups with pecked ownership marks.  Keri Koljian of San Francisco's Wells Fargo Bank donated a significant assemblage of Chinese and Japanese objects, including scrolls, panels, a screen, a clock, a jadeite scepter, and ceramics; all were once used as decorations in a corporate apartment.
To learn more about the AACC, please visit our Web site, http://www.uidaho.edu/LS/AACC/.  For a free copy of the AACC Newsletter, please contact Priscilla Wegars, Editor, Asian American Comparative Collection Newsletter, Laboratory of Anthropology, University of Idaho, PO Box 441111, Moscow, Idaho 83844-1111, 208-885-7075; <pwegars@uidaho.edu>


Roderick Sprague Testifies Before NAGPRA Review Committee

On November 17 and 18, Roderick Sprague, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, testified at Harvard University before the Review Committee overseeing the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.  The Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe of Nevada has been requesting for several years the return of the 9000 year old Spirit Cave Mummy from the Nevada State Office of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), U.S. Department of the Interior.  In spite of protests from the Tribe, the BLM and Nevada State Museum have already conducted virtually every test that could be desired by researchers.
Sprague testified on the continuing pattern of Great Basin burial practices evident over the past 9000 years.  Two of the three experts were from the State of Idaho with Mark Plew, Professor of Anthropology, Boise State University also testifying, most significantly on the continuity of textile weaving techniques.  Additional testimony was on the strong genetic evidence of a tribal relationship with the Spirit Cave Man.
The decision of the NAGPRA Review Committee was six to one on three issues:  1) The Fallon Tribe had demonstrated a cultural relationship with Spirit Cave Man; 2) the Nevada State Office of the BLM had not bargained in good faith; and 3) Spirit Cave Man and associated funerary objects should be repatriated to the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe.