Made of around 11,500 Turkey feathers
Turkeys were one of the few domesticated animals in North America before Europeans arrived. They weren’t really used as a food source until the late 12th century.
Archaeologists from Washington State University examined 800-year-old blanket measuring 99×108 cm got from southeast Utah. It was made of around 11,500 turkey feathers. The feathers were wrapped around 180 meters of yucca fibre (fibre got from yucca plant) cord to make the blanket. It was used by the ancient Pueblo Indians (native Americans) who lived at an elevation of about 5,000 feet. It was used as an insulating medium for the cold weather there. An interesting finding of the study was that the turkey feathers were most likely painlessly harvested from live birds during the natural molting ( shedding of feathers) period. They would have collected it for over a period of time and then made it. This shows that turkeys have been culturally significant in the lives of Pueblo people. The blanket is now displayed in a museum.
