The Missoulian from Missoula, Montana • 37

INSIDE Book Life E2 Crossword E5 Weddings E5 Opinion E8 a in'iiirw 1 I 1 1 gmw-HX Territory MS yWssoufkai Sunday, July 20, 2014 NEWSROOM 523-5240 x- 1 frV. siilv 1 nu (x '-p' i X- ''w' Erik Larsen surveys a small artifact found inside his excavation grid near Fort Missoula on Tuesday morning. Digging into history of QU1 TolO UM archaeologists unearth artifacts at Fort Missoula racism may not have had material consequences at the fort. But it may also be true that archaeological evidence won't reveal evidence of race or cultural identity. 1 The questions are significant and the answers profound.

Dixon described the work as one of the most important excavations in North America, given its focus on the 25th Infantry and its 220 "Buffalo Soldiers." "The artifacts we find help democratize the histories of people who have been marginalized in See HISTORY, Page E12 eating this well. If we're finding so many cow bones to the proportion of 1 African-American men here, we can -start to assume they were fed very well." Swartz said the analysis won't be completed until later this year, and the team is reluctant to draw conclusions before then. She plans to present the full story in her thesis, hoping to cut through questions of race and shed light on life at Fort Missoula. The artifacts suggest that structural have turned up as well, along with stemware and elegant dinnerware, including fragments of decorative purple transfer-print vessels. Swartz also noted the number of bones peeking from the soil.

They are large, most likely bovine, though some members of the crew have compared them with bison. The bones are abundant, indicating a stable diet of fresh meat. "It's something that's not happening at a lot of other military forts," said Swartz. "At the other military forts in the West, they're not Written by MARTIN KIDSTON Photographed by KELSEYJAEWARDELL of the Missoulian In the summer of 1888, four companies with the U.S. Army left their post in the Dakota Territory and headed west to Missoula.

The arrival of the 25th Infantry at Fort Missoula itself established in 1877 during the Indian Wars placed the soldiers far away from the South. It was an added bonus to military life given one basic fact: The unit's 220 members were African-American. More than 125 years later, a team of archaeologists and students from the University of Montana hunkered down in a mosquito-infested field near the decommissioned fort. Under the drum of summer heat, they scratched away soil revealing military trash from the late 19th century. But one person's trash has become an archaeological gold mine, and excitement at the dig is palpable.

The items discovered thus far could help researchers better understand the life of black soldiers in the American West in the 1880s and '90s. "You can literally count the number of African -American archaeology projects in the West on two hands," said Kelly Dixon, an associate professor of anthropology at UM. "This field is underrepresented in the region and this project represents the first known archaeological examination of daily life in the 25th Infantry." Former UM professor and archaeologist Carting Malouf conducted three test trenches in the area 31 years ago, turning up 19th century artifacts. Dixon and her students, including field supervisor and UM graduate student Ayme Swartz, have returned to the area, working across a three-meter grid centimeters at a time in hopes of revealing the past. Swartz will incorporate the project into her master's thesis once the work is done.

A handful of artifacts uncovered during a test in 2013 have already shown promise, including a hair tonic bottle and a helmet spike matching the regalia worn by the 25th Infantry. Work carried out this summer also has revealed surprises about life at the fort. Rotting shoes may help determine foot size and wear. A broken mustache cup suggests an atmosphere of sophistication and gentility. Toy fragments found at the site also suggest that some of the men had wives and children at the fort.

Fragments of old champagne bottles X-H Jp Ik tf) Ay I 4 I ABOVE: Kyle Burke works inside his excavation grid. The dirt is sifted to make sure that no artifacts are missed in the excavation. LEFT: Dr. Riley Auge, also known as the "Witch Doctor," studies an artifact through a magnifying glass. i i i.