Connections Across the Land in the Kittitas Valley: Geographic Plotting of Material Diversity at the Grissom Site (45KT301)

The Grissom archaeological site (45KT301) in the Kittitas Valley has a continuous occupational history spanning the last 2,000 years. The Grissom collection contains tens of thousands of artifacts housed in over 60 boxes, with materials ranging from precontact lithics to historic-era trade goods like seed, glass, and shell beads. Potentially part of the ethnographically described trade hub Che-lo-han, the Grissom collection demonstrates a confluence of materials from across a large geographic region. Located on Yakama traditional territory ceded in the Treaty of 1855, the Grissom site reflects a long history of movement through the Kittitas Valley and across the Columbia Plateau. This poster maps and explores a sample of that diversity, demonstrating the geographic connections of the Grissom site around the world through the examination of a few selected objects. By providing historical and cultural context for these objects, we can illuminate the complex history of Indigenous presence in the Kittitas Valley, movement of Indigenous peoples across the Pacific Northwest, and Euro-American colonization. College of the Sciences Presentation Award Winner