The archaeological site on Jackson Street, Virginia City, Montana has been a major attraction for tourists, causing the Montana State University students who are working there to spend a lot of time explaining it.
Nancy Mahoney, MSU adjunct professor of anthropology says “That is just fine, because that is part of why we’re here – to try and tell the story of Jackson Street, and by inviting the public in it has made [the site] more meaningful than your typical archaeological dig. “
A vivid picture
The group can now paint a picture – of miners returning from their labours along a thoroughfare lined with shops and bars, medicine show wagons and hucksters – told through the objects they’ve unearthed:
An ivory handle that came to Montana via the Congo and then France;
A ceramic cat;
The remnant of an old boot, the likes of which were worn by the bare-knuckle boxers of the day;
An old medicine bottle labelled “St. Jakob’s Oel” so as to resemble a health potion concocted by German monks;
A cufflink with an interior hook that might have concealed a playing card beneath a shirtsleeve.
The hard working – hard living miners were renowned for their fist fights – a famous bout happened in 1865 when a slim blacksmith fought a barrel-chested heavyweight for 185 rounds. However, this did not mean they would sacrifice their vanity, and several fragments of moustache cups were uncovered, to ensure the wax would not melt when drinking coffee.
Moustache Cups. Image: David Loong (Flickr, used under a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Valuable experience
Mahoney invited some of her students to take part in this excavation around a stone building foundation in an empty lot just off the town’s Main Street. This was intended to give her students experience in field archaeology techniques. “We’re finding thousands and thousands of artefacts,” she told the Bozeman Daily Chronicle.
Beneath the stone walls and the rubbish of frontier life, the students also found the well-preserved remains of wooden boards that may be the remnants of pioneer structures that were built by miners flocking to the gold strike in the very early days of Virginia City.
The team will spend time studying their finds to help create a full story of this archetypal Old West town.
John Olson and Gheri Osborne work at excavating an archaeological site in Virginia City as part of a three-week field course with Montana State University. MSU Photo by Abbey Nelson.
Source: MSU News
More Information
Virginia City
Project Archaeology was also at work in Virginia city
Project Archaeology is a heritage education organization dedicated to teaching scientific and historical inquiry, cultural understanding, and the importance of protecting our nation’s rich cultural resources. Project Archaeology offers courses that utilize our award winning curriculum, “Project Archaeology: Investigating Shelter.” For more information about our upcoming Educator Field School in Virginia City please contact Crystal Alegria at calegria@montana.edu. For other Project Archaeology courses and workshops please see our website at projectarchaeology.org or visit us on facebook at facebook.com/pages/Project-Archaeology/146391292073529?ref=ts.
Cite this article
MSU News. Card sharks and fistfights come to life in Virginia City dig. Past Horizons. August 31, 2013, from http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/08/2013/card-sharks-and-fistfights-come-to-life-in-virginia-city-dig
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