Utah - Uinta-Wasatch-Cache NF
Closed! Boxes from the Bowels, Part III: Rehab of Excavated Materials from U-W-C NF
UT-4230
March 9-13 , 2015
Must commit to entire session
Come to Ogden this spring for another round of artifact curation! Between the 1980s and the present, archaeologists for the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest excavated several sites on Forest Service lands as part of ongoing projects. Due to limited time and funding, many artifacts collected from these sites had never properly cleaned, sorted and identified. That changed in 2012 with our first "Boxes from the Bowels" project, and it and the subsequent PIT project in the series completed this task. This year, the artifacts require formal cataloging so they can be curated. This will involve measuring, weighing, and describing artifacts, andentering all of these data into a digital database. The goal of this two-week PIT project is to complete this process for the collections from Strawberry Valley, Forest City, and Mill Creek Commissary.
In 1888, Strawberry Valley was the location of a massive military training maneuver by troops from Fort Douglas and Fort Duchesne, UT, and Fort Bridger, WY. The collection of artifacts from this site contains some of the most significant historic archaeological finds in the state of Utah, and includes a wide range of material classes from militaria to liquor bottles. The Forest City site was a large mining camp with a diverse population in use from the 1870s into the 1880s. The artifact collection contains a significant assemblage of late 19th century artifacts that give specific and detailed insight into how people lived and worked during this time and in this locale. Finally, the Mill Creek Commissary was a large logging camp in use from the late 1800s into the early 1900s, and served as a supply point for the multitude of loggers scattered throughout the Uinta Mountains. Its collection contains an incredible amount of bottle glass accumulated from the - mostly male - population's affinity for spirits.
Volunteers will get a hands-on glimpse of materials from each of these sites and a feel for the times and peoples they represent. Each participant will gain experience in the proper techniques of archaeological laboratory techniques from Forest Service staff, and will be exposed to the process of curation practices.
Volunteers will also provide the Heritage Program the much-needed reinforcements to get all the artifact collections from these sites properly archived, cataloged, analyzed, and ready for curation! Everyone will be exposed to all aspects of the cataloguing and curation process, so gain some new skills or hone old ones, and join us for a third year of fun and education through the "Boxes from the Bowels" curation project!
Number of openings: 8
Special skills: No special skills are required, but preference will be given to those comfortable using computers and performing digital data entry. Applicants should also be detail-oriented, organized, and possess a willingness to learn. All volunteers must be physically capable of sitting and/or standing for long periods of time each day.
Minimum age: 18 years old
Facilities: Project will take place within the Archaeological Laboratory, located in the basement of the Social Sciences Building at Weber State University; restrooms and drinking water available during work hours. Unfortunately there is no available Forest Service housing in the greater Salt Lake City/Ogden area, so volunteers will be responsible for their own lodging, meals, and transportation. However, Ogden, Roy, and Layton are full-service communities with a full range of hotels/motels, restaurants, shopping, and other amenities. If you are or were a member of the United States military, Hill Air Force Base is only a few miles away from the project location.
Nearest town: Project located in Ogden; Roy, 5 miles; Layton, 8 miles
Applications due: January 26, 2015