Burke Museum

The Green River Canoe is getting a new home!

This Coast Salish s.dəxʷìł dugout hunting canoe was found buried in a muddy bank of the Green River in 1963. The mud kept this 25-foot-long canoe beautifully preserved, but as the canoe started to dry out, its wood cracked and warped in places.

The Burke Archaeology team recently welcomed conservator J. Claire Dean and mountmakers James Hascall & Craig Kuehnert to help build a metal mount to cradle this canoe. This mount will allow the s.dəxʷìł to go on exhibit in the “Our Material World” exhibit on the Burke's third floor.

The mount allows several of the splintered pieces, like the tip of the bow and a long piece of the gunwale, to be cradled in place and showcase this several hundred year old canoe as one solid piece.

We are so excited to share more about the Green River Canoe as it makes its way from the collections to the exhibit. Have any questions?? Just comment below!

We are so thankful to all the artists who come to the Burke Museum and showcase these living traditions for all our guests. The Artist Studio was so full and busy to end 2023, so here are all the artists who came to close out the year.

David A. Boxley (Tsimshian) and Dylan Sanidad (Haida, Tlingit, Tsimshian) - Photo 1-3

David and Dylan carved and painted a paddle, bentwood box, mask, and drums. David’s new book “Tsimshian Eagle: A Culture Bearer's Journey” is available at the Burke Store or wherever you purchase books.

Phillip Marmolejo (Laguna Pueblo) - Photo 4-5

Philip worked on a new pair of red moccasin while in the Studio. The purple moccasin he showed on display were a completed pair to show guests the finished artwork.

Chief Chepximiya Siyam’ Janice George (Squamish) and Buddy Joseph (Squamish) - Photo 6-7

Janice and Buddy wove Coast Salish wool bags in the Artist Studio. They demonstrated two different weaving patterns, concentrating on twill weaving.

Kyler Pahang (Filipino) - Photo 8-9

Kyler sculpted master copies of wooden bulul sculptures pulled from the Burke’s collections for his research. Kyler said “I find it so powerful that spirituality in folklore and mythology survived and persevered through colonization. Bulls, Diwatas, and Anitos all predate the arrival of colonizers."

Joe Seymour (Squaxin Island/Pueblo of Acoma) - Photo 10

"The piece I’m working on is painting an octopus on a four sided drum for an upcoming exhibition at the Stonington Gallery, in Seattle Washington. The exhibition opens on February 1st, so this the last piece that will be going into the show… This exhibit will showcase new traditional and contemporary pieces and some pieces from my Masters of Fine Arts graduation exhibition."

Thank you so much to every single artist that came to the Burke in 2023 and shared your work with our community. We are so excited to welcome more artists in 2024, old friends and new ones too!

A little look inside the Burke’s visible workrooms.

Collections staff are constantly changing up what you see in the windows, so every visit is unique.

What do you want to see in the windows? Let us know in the comments!

Tlingit weaver Lily Hope brought sunshine and bright colors to the Burke's Artist Studio last month!

Lily was in town giving a lecture on Chilkat weaving for the UW School of Art and decided to stop by the Burke to get some work done.

She worked on the latest educational Ravenstail Robe, needled up braids on her most recent Chilkat work, and spun warp for future pieces. It's always amazing to see these stunning pieces in progress and shows just how much hands-on work it takes to bring these artforms to life.

See more of Lily's work on Instagram at

Join us for an evening of Salish Sea trivia, salmon-safe beer, crafts, advocacy, and snacks!

Roam the galleries at night and have a chance to check out our special exhibit, We Are Puget Sound, before it closes at the end of the year.

Get your tickets today at burkemuseum.org/calendar/pints-puget-sound

Pints for Puget Sound is a 21+ party in partnership with Braided River, Washington Conservation Action, and Washington Wild.

Pints for Puget Sound Join us for a festive evening of Salish Sea trivia, salmon-safe beer, crafts, advocacy, and snacks!

Visiting artists find inspiration from so many surprising places in the collections.

Tlingit weaver Sydney Akagi was back at the Burke for a weeklong residence where she worked on several different ravenstail and chilkat weaving projects. She looked at several different woven garments to learn more about techniques used in the ancestral items.

Here, she spends time with Tlingit artist Nick Alan studying the formline designs of bentwood boxes from across the Northwest Coast to better understand and incorporate these designs into her work. In this way, contemporary native artists continue carry traditional practices into the future while also pushing these artforms in a new and exciting direction.

Come work with us! Check out these new open positions at burkemuseum.org/about/careers

Usually climbing up on the fossil exhibits is frowned upon, but visiting researcher Amy Cameron had special permission to study this incredible mosasaur specimen!

Amy just started her masters degree at The University of Alberta in Canada and is studying a group of mosasaur species to better describe the subfamily they fall into. These animals lived during the Late Cretaceous, about 94-66 million years ago.

These marine reptiles were truly incredible predators, with fast, agile swimming abilities and powerful jaws. This particular mosasaur lived and died in what we now call South Dakota, but back then, that area was covered by a gigantic inland sea stretching from the Gulf of Mexico all the way to the North Pole.

Amy’s research will help determine if this particular specimen needs to be reclassified and the exhibit label changed, because just like science, the Burke is constantly evolving.

Whatever you love about the Burke—seeing fossils unearthed before you, interacting with experts, or expanding your knowledge about interests new and old—your support as a member helps make it possible.

We're having our best sale of the year right now! This Friday through Monday, get TWO FREE GUEST PASSES with the purchase of any membership. Don't miss out on your chance to get a year full of learning and wonder for the best deal.

Sign up at burkemuseum.org/support/membership

About 76% of all species went extinct in the K-Pg extinction 66 million years ago, including most cycads. These were palm-like plants that flourished for hundreds of millions of years, but a few species were able to survive to the present day.

A new study by Michael Kipp, who started this 10 year journey at UW and the Burke Museum and now works at Duke University, sheds light on why these particular species may have been able to survive the harsh conditions.

By sampling the nitrogen content of cycads in the fossil record, he was able to determine that, at some point, these plants evolved a symbiotic relationship with nitrogen fixing bacteria in the soil. Th allowed them pull nitrogen directly out of the air instead of relying solely on nitrogen in the soil.

There's so much to learn from this study, so read the full write-up below! https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1007902

Join us on Sunday, November 19 for Sounders FC Day at the Burke Museum!

In honor of Native American Heritage Month, admission to the Burke Museum is free when you wear your Sounders FC gear! The first 100 youth will also receive a free soccer ball, courtesy of RAVE Foundation.

All fans who visit the museum on Sounders Day will also be entered to win an autographed Sounders FC jersey. The day will be complete with visits from special guests Sammy the Sounder and Sounders FC Brand Ambassador Brad Evans!

Sounders FC Day at the Burke On Sunday, November 19, in honor of Native American Heritage Month, admission to the Burke Museum is free when you wear your Sounders FC gear!

My name is Jennifer Angaiak Wood and I’m a Yup’ik artist.

The mask I worked on during my time in the artist studio is a seal face, and is based on an old Yup’ik story I really enjoy. In the story, a boy is transformed into a seal and goes to live with them for a year. During this time, the seals teach him the correct way of living, including the proper ways to hunt and care for seals once they are caught.

The boy transforms back into a human and returns to his family to teach them what he learned. Since that time, seals will sometimes pop their heads out the water to check on us and make sure we are living correctly.

I spent my time at the Burke studying items from its Yup’ik collection, including masks, mask attachments, and scrimshawed ivory. I wanted to see how attachments were connected to masks, and the wide variety of attachments that aren’t always seen since they’ve been separated from the masks to which they once belonged.

I also wanted to see the two-dimensional designs of my ancestors to better incorporate them into my artwork. One unexpected discovery was the use of green and yellow pigments- I had only known about the use of blue, red, white and black pigments, and I am excited to look deeper into when and how these other colors were used.

I am so grateful for my time at the Burke- it is invaluable to see the works of my ancestor in person and see all of the details that aren’t shown in photographs.

Happy Halloween, especially to all those dinosaurs and ancient animals that made our first Fossil Finders event such a pumpkin-smashing success 🎃

We’ll be holding these on the last Sunday of every month with new themes, so be sure to check out our website for the full list of dates. The next Fossil Finders will be on November 26 so be sure to tell your fossil-obsessed kiddos!

Odd are you'll never see an Anglerfish in the wild, that is, unless you happen to have access to a powerful submarine!

Anglerfish are extremely well adapted to live in the deep ocean at depths of up to a mile. This group of over 200 different species have bodies that can handle the immense pressure of the deep sea and their namesake lures, which are a modified dorsal fin spine. Many of these lures can produce bioluminescence that attract prey in the deep, dark ocean.

The animal shown here (and the one you likely think of as an anglerfish) is the female. Male anglerfish are much smaller and don't have the trademark lures. Instead, males have a keen sense of smell to locate females in the depths. Once they find one, they bite onto the female and fuses with her skin permanently. The bloodstreams of the two fishes become connected, the male becomes completely dependent on the female for nourishment.

Deep sea animals live in a world completely different from the one we walk around in and have developed adaptations to thrive and reproduce there. What kind of adaptations do you want to learn about? Let us know down in the comments!

Join us to celebrate Spirit Whales & Sloth Tales: Fossils of Washington State, by Elizabeth A. Nesbitt, Burke curator emerita of invertebrate and micropaleontology, and David B. Williams, Seattle-based author, naturalist, and historian.

Register today at: https://www.burkemuseum.org/calendar/spirit-whales-sloth-tales-book-launch

From trilobites near the Idaho border and primitive horses on the Columbia Plateau to giant bird tracks near Bellingham and curious bear-like beasts on the Olympic Peninsula, fossils across Washington State are filled with clues of past life on Earth. With abundant and well-exposed rock layers, the state has fossils dating from Ice Age mammals only 12,000 years old back to marine invertebrates more than 500 million years old.

In Spirit Whales and Sloth Tales, renowned paleontologist Elizabeth A. Nesbitt teams up with popular science writer David B. Williams to offer a fascinating, richly illustrated tour through more than a half billion years of natural history. The spectacular paleontology of Washington is brought to life with details of the fossils' discovery and extraction, their place in geological time, and the insights they provide into contemporary issues like climate change and species extinction.

Spirit Whales and Sloth Tales is published by the University of Washington Press in partnership with the Burke Museum.

Taiwanese researchers Margaret Yun-Pu Tu (first photo) and Jiun-Yu Liu (second photo) are proud to unveil their new mini-exhibit “The Kuroshio Odyssey” this Saturday at the Burke Museum.

Stop by the Arts and Cultures workroom window over the next 6 weeks to see beautiful pieces from the Indigenous Peoples of eastern Taiwan. Here’s a little more from them about the mini-exhibit:

“Kuroshio 黑潮, the Black Current, is a warm ocean stream flowing from the tropical to the arctic zones in the west Pacific, mainly passing through the Philippines, Taiwan, and Japan.

Since the time immemorial, the Indigenous People in eastern Taiwan have deeply bonded their way of living with Kuroshio and this connection will continue into the future. The Kuroshio Odyssey mini display in the workroom window focuses on two key themes: the diverse Indigenous communities of eastern Taiwan and their stunning natural world.”

Join Margaret and Jiun-Yu for events over the next few weeks featuring speakers and artists! For a full schedule related to this exhibit, check out https://jsis.washington.edu/taiwan/2023/10/02/kuroshio-odyssey/

Imagine the top of your skull was 8 inches thick. Now imagine you’re a dinosaur whose specialty is slamming your head into other dinosaurs to display dominance (we think). In this scenario, you’re a Pachycephalosaurus (Pachy for short) and your fossils are incredibly rare!

Burke paleontologist Dave DeMar found a Pachy head dome in Hell Creek Montana this summer and the whole team is excited about it. Pachys make up about 1% of the dinosaur fauna found in Hell Creek and this specimen seems to have come from an adult instead of the more common juvenile skulls.

Dave named the site where he found it “Headbanger” partially because of the Pachy’s famous head-butt but also because he was listening to Metallica when he discovered it. They’ll be going back next summer to see if they can find more of this animal in the hillside. See it for yourself in the Burke Paleo Prep Lab!

*Fossil was found on public lands and collected under a permit.

We’ve got TWO terrific virtual events on 10/11 to celebrate National Fossil Day 🦴

With help from the , you can join Burke paleontologists to follow the fossilized tracks of ancient animals and learn all about dinosaur’s cool canines and magnificent molars 🦷

Register today at burkemuseum.org/calendar

We’re so excited to be tabling at the game for the second year in a row! ⚽️

In honor of Indigenous People’s Day this Monday, we’ll be bringing our Living Traditions Mini-Museum to Lumen Field 🏟️

Learn more about the diverse cultures of the Native Peoples of the Pacific Northwest, who are living modern lives while practicing long-established traditions.

This program is hands-on and interactive with activities, collections, and exhibits focused on seven themes: Food, Fishing, Community, Home, Tools, Canoes and Arts.

BurkeMobile isn’t just for the soccer stadium, it’s also for the classroom! Teachers can book these programs all school year long, so send this post to a teacher in your life 🍎

Visit our website to see all the exciting programs BurkeMobile has to offer!

Liana Honda, Alice Kawakami, and Nani Pai visited the Burke Museum to teach a workshop on making 3 different kinds of lei last week. Here's what they had to say about their visit!

"While most of the world thinks of lei as sweet-smelling garlands of flowers not native to Hawai'i, the history and legacy of lei goes much deeper than that. Lei making is ceremony lei gifting is ceremony

Lei are fashioned with feathers, leaves, leaf buds, fruits, shells, seeds and more. There are a variety of lei styles including kui (sewn with needle and thread) , wili (plant materials are placed on a backing and wound with fiber or thread around the base) to hili (braiding or weaving of a single plant material).

The most treasured lei are those that are made with love by family or a friend using natural material that reflect the spirit of the event or celebration.

E lei nō au I kou aloha - I will wear your love like a lei."

This sockeye salmon lived 900,000 years ago in a world very different from the one we see today. Through Ice Ages and warm periods, these salmon continued to navigate rivers and open oceans.

As you read this, thousands of sockeye salmon are swimming upstream to the rivers in which they were born in a cycle that has continued for over a million years.

Human activities are making this journey harder for young and old salmon alike. Dams make it harder for mature salmon to reach their spawning grounds. Slow moving currents and hot water kill thousands of young salmon before they ever reach the ocean.

Salmon habitat must be protected so that this iconic species can thrive for another 900,000 years!

Thanks so much to Tlingit artist James Hart for visiting the Burke Collections and Artist Studio!

James studied carved and painted bentwood boxes from the Northwest Coast to inform his own work of painting formaline designs on canvas.

"I loved my time at the Burke because it gave me a hands on opportunity to connect with the past and learn from my ancestors in a more intimate way rather than a book. It also gave me an opportunity to connect with others and share my love and passion that I hold towards NWC art."

See more of James’ work on Instagram at

The Burke Paleo Prep Lab but make it Lego!

Paleontology volunteer and avid lego creator Chris Blakeley created this perfect replica of the museum paleo prep lab completely out of legos. It's got microscope stations, a chemical station, and even our custom red T. rex rack!

Chris even made his own fossil field jacket for lego paleontologists to work on! Come check out the real lab in person where staff and volunteers are working on new fossil fiends from Montana.

Take a trip under the Salish Sea, no snorkel required 🤿

Our FIN-tastic Burke members are invited to join this for our latest Lean Into Learning event on Sunday, August 20 from 10am to 2pm. Chat with Burke ichthyologists (aka fish experts), see real specimens from our collections, and get hands on with education activities for all ages.

This event is going to rock(fish) so come on by the Burke for a day of gills and thrills. Not a member yet? Head on over to our website to join our pod today: burkemuseum.org/support/membership

Monday + 85 degree heat has us feeling like this Smilodon 😠

A salmon is born 🎵in the sha-ha, sha-ha-llows🎵

Right now tens of thousands of salmon are swimming up the rivers of Washington state to the streams where they were born. Some of these salmon will travel hundreds of miles upstream and sacrifice themselves to the next generation.

These young salmon will go through a dramatic transformation from egg to alevin to fry to smolt and then eventually a full grown salmon. As they grow, they make their way down the river and spend 4-5 years in the ocean where they serve as an important food source for species like orca whales.

What do you want to know about the trip these young salmon are making? Let us know down in the comments!

Tools of the trade ✂️

The Biology Prep Lab uses all sorts of tools to prepare specimens for the collections. When specimens arrive at the museum, we don't put the entire animal in a drawer because it would start to decay (not to mention STINK!)

Biologists make what are called "study skins" which are the outer skins of these animals stuffed with archival-grade cotton. The bones are then cleaned and stored along with the study skin so researchers have access to the entire animal for generations to come.

You can see biologists working in the prep lab everyday so come check it out for yourself!

Please join us for a special lecture by the “Bat Man of Mexico,” Rodrigo A. Medellín, senior professor of ecology at the Institute of Ecology, University of Mexico, award-winning conservationist, and National Geographic Society Explorer-at-Large.

Popular culture has turned bats into creatures to be feared, but the truth is that bats offer crucial benefits to both the natural world and human societies. With their unique behaviors and adaptations, bats contribute to pest control, seed dispersal, and pollination, making them invaluable to the balance and health of ecosystems.

On August 14, Medellín will discuss the vital role bats play in our everyday lives, from reducing the number of diseases spread by insects to promoting forest growth and even pollinating the plant that is used to make tequila!

Register today at https://www.burkemuseum.org/calendar/our-nocturnal-allies-why-bats-matter-our-everyday-lives

For at least 5,000 years, Coast Salish Tribes raised domesticated “woolly-haired” dogs for their thick, warm fur. Once or twice a year, the dogs would be shorn, much in the same way sheep wool is harvested 🐕

This dog wool was often incorporated into other yarns to make fibers even stronger and woven into blankets, robes, and other warming garments 🧶

Tribal members took special care to make sure these dogs were well cared for and didn’t breed with other hunting dogs. Some communities went as far as creating populations of these dogs on islands in the Salish Sea 🏝️

This blanket is one of the only confirmed dog wool blankets in the PNW and was only recognized due to the tear in the fabric. It is on display at the Burke right now, so come see it for yourself! Learn more about it on our website at burkemuseum.org/news/rare-woolly-dog-hair-found-coast-salish-blanket

Don't forget your baseball hats for this year's MLB All Star Game in Seattle!

Here's one of our favorite baseball hats made by Lummi weaver Tsi'li'xw James. He collected this cedar bark from the forest himself and wove the hat by hand.

"Usually today people buy their material, they buy their bark already cut nearby," James said. "They don't know that the true art of gathering the material. What I do is when we go into the woods, I teach the young people the way my grandma Auntie taught me. You approach the tree and you have to ask her for her bark."

Learn all about the many forms our basketry collection can take at the Burke Museum! Get your tickets today at burkemuseum.org/visit