A new excavation began at the
site Tuesday and promises to reveal even more about domestic life in Boise's
earliest days. A University of Idaho archaeological team will spend the next
two weeks digging out an old well found at the east side of the house.
What's remarkable about the
dig is that no one knew the well was there until May, said Patty Miller,
executive director at the Basque Museum and Cultural Center.
The museum staffers,
historians and others were so excited about the discovery that they pulled
together an excavation in less than two months, Miller said.
Archaeological crews will
remove dirt from around the well, hoping to uncover items lost or thrown away
by people nearly 150 years ago. The house and well were built in 1864. For
context, that's one year after the city of Boise was platted and one year
before the Civil War ended.
Only a couple of hours into
the dig on Tuesday — just "skimming the surface" of the area in the
most literal sense — the excavators had found two shell buttons, a rust-red tin
of Prince Albert Tobacco, a shard of porcelain with a dainty pink flower
design, canning lids with white glass tops intact, assorted bones and bottle
caps, a porcelain doll head and more.
One of the key things about
this type of domestic dig, said Mark Warner, is that it tells the story of
everyday life through items that are often lost because no one considers them
notable at the time.
Warner and Stacey Camp, both
anthropology professors at the University of Idaho, are leading the work.
"You might write in a
diary, keeping track of thoughts and emotions, but you don't write about
getting up and eating peanut butter and jelly or that you bought a good bottle
of wine," said Warner.
But those empty jars, bottles
and other "trash" reveal much about everyday life — what people ate,
drank, collected and smoked. Broken medicine bottles reveal their ailments.
Shards of expensive wallpaper reveal their aspirations.
"Archaeologists have
done work at hundreds of African-American sites and hundreds of Chinese-American
sites," said Warner. "But as far as we can tell there's been little
archaeological work done in the Basque-occupied areas in the U.S."
The project will give the
public the chance to see urban archaeology in action. The site will be open
during the dig, with an observation area set up so visitors can watch the
progress. About a dozen people visited Tuesday morning.
Onlookers will see about 20
people doing various jobs — excavating, screening dirt, washing artifacts.
The well measures about 3
feet in diameter and appears to be about 4 feet deep, but Warner discovered
that the well's floor isn't solid. Dirt gave way like a crust of sugar when he
started to take a sample.
He and Camp will have to
figure out the best way to excavate the well safely. They expect to dig down
about 10 feet, until they reach the water table and the dirt becomes heavy, wet
muck.
A large part of this project
is public outreach, Warner said. It's rare that a historic dig takes place in
such a public location.
Most of Stacey Camp's research, for example, takes
place north of Kooskia at the site of the Idaho World War II camp where
Japanese-Americans were relocated after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The
camp was so remote, she said, it didn't have barbed wire. Camp leaders figured
that anyone who tried to escape would get lost or injured.
The Basque Block dig is
taking place a stone's throw from bustling bars and restaurants, down the
street from City Hall.
The Boise project has support
not only from the Basque Museum and Cultural Center and the University of
Idaho, but also from the Idaho Archaeological Society and the Idaho Heritage
Trust. The Boise National Forest is providing equipment, Warner said.
The actual dig will be the
briefest part of the project, Camp said. After the excavation, artifacts will
go to the University of Idaho, where scholars will study and catalog them
before returning them to be displayed in Boise.
-- The Associated Press
