Dear HISTARCH,
        Well, the "Mormon archaeology" thread seems to have run its
course.  I would like to thank the following people for contributing to
the discussion, either openly to HISTARCH or privately to myself:
 
Terry DelBene, Jim Dykman, Russ Tanner, Mike Polk, Homer Thiel, Anita
Cohen-Williams, Brian Kenny, Mark Henderson, and Mike Jacobs.
 
Through their directions and information, two lists have been compiled:
(A) a list of known excavations at Mormon sites, and (B) known references
regarding Mormon excavations.  Proper names of people having conducted the
excavations have been deleted from the quotes, below, excepting the public
references.  Several of the received messages suggested names of people or
agencies to contact for further information.  Messages have been sent to
all suggestions, but unfortunately in most cases replies were not
received, at least in time for inclusion in this summary statement.
Again, thanks to all for their help.
 
Robin Mills
Univ. of Alaska Fairbanks
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
 
 
A. KNOWN MORMON EXCAVATIONS
 
(1) The Mormon component at Ft. Bridger
 
(2) Brigham Young University archaeologists conducted an excavation of an
early Mormon public building call Social Hall, an 1852 building used for
social gatherings of Mormons in downtown Salt Lake. The biggest problem
here is that funding was cut off before all of the work was completed.
 
(3) One of the best known excavations is that of Cove Fort, located about
200 miles south of Salt Lake City.  It was a Mormon Fort from the middle
19th Century which was excavated by Brigham Young University in the early
1990s.
 
(4) An excavation of particular note was that of Block 49, a very early
(late 1840s- early in that Mormons only came to the Salt Lake area in
1847) historic cemetery in downtown Salt Lake City where a parking lot was
planned.  More than 50 bodies were recovered and analyzed.
 
(5) Another excavation was of several structures at Little Dell Reservoir
along the Pony Express route east of Salt Lake City.  This was a Corps of
Engineers project directed by BYU archaeologists.
 
(6) An ongoing excavation of an early 1850s farmstead on Antelope Island
(island in Great Salt Lake) by the Department of State History/University
of Utah.
 
(7) Excavations at the Old Mormon Fort State Historic Site in Las Vegas.
 
 
B. KNOWN MORMON ARCHAEOLOGY REFERENCES
 
(1) Ferg, Alan, William H. Liesenbein, Peter J. Pilles, and Pamela Haas
  1988 Historical Archaeology at Joseph City, Arizona. The Arizona
Archaeologist  No. 22, Arizona Archaeological Society, Phoenix.
 
(2) The following reference examines use of alcohol and tobacco among
early Mormons:
 
Peterson, Paul H.
  1972 An Historical Analysis of the Word of Wisdom. Unpublished Master's
thesis, Department of History, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.
 
(3) Southworth, Don D., Lane D. Richens, Deborah E. Newman and Teri
Christensen
1990  A Final Report of the Archaeological Investigations at Cove Fort,
Millard County, Utah. Brigham Young University, Museum of Peoples and
Cultures, Technical Series No. 90-3.[Provo, Utah 84602]
 
(4) de Lespinasse, Paula, Jannine Mundt and Douglas B. Sims
1995  Breaking the Cognition: The Ceramic Assemblage at New Fort St.
Joseph (26CK3077);  A Test Case for the "Mormon Cognition."  UNLV Journal
of Anthropology, vol 5
 
(5)  Cooper, Jason and Douglas B. Sims
1997 (in press)  Continuing Archaeological Investigations of New Fort St.
Joseph, Overton, Nevada.  Nevada Archaeologist 14:73-78.