Public invited to see archeology in progress this Saturday

For nearly 30 years around the turn of the century, a group of Polynesians lived in the desert on the west side of the Stansbury Mountains. Now, 100 years later, students equipped with trowels, shovels and small handheld brooms are digging in the same spots these Polynesians toiled and lived.

For most of this month, Benjamin Pykles, assistant professor of anthropology at the State University of New York at Potsdam, and 12 of his students have been digging into the past of Iosepa — the abandoned Polynesian settlement in Skull Valley. They know the history of the settlement — how LDS Polynesians built the town and lived in it from 1889 to 1917, until the building of the first church temple in Hawaii — but what they want to know is how pioneers from paradise lived day to day in such a desolate place.

The public will get its first glimpse at what Pykles and his team have unearthed at a public archeology day at Iosepa this Saturday.

“We have been pulling out quite a few artifacts from the time period, and the students will be digging that morning [Saturday], so the public can see the archeologists in action and see the archeological process,” Pykles said.

Ground-penetrating radar used last summer prompted Pykles to focus on an area of ground at Iosepa that belonged to John Mahoe, one of the town’s original pioneers. While Pykles hoped to find a housing foundation in this area, he hasn’t yet. However, a depression on the lot with vegetation growing on top has led him to believe it could be a trash pit or a latrine. This deposit, which is roughly 1 meter in length and 1 1/2 meters deep, has yielded an abundance of artifacts.

Students have found an oil canister for a lamp, chimney lamp fragments, buttons, glassware, a 1904 nickel, pieces of leather, nails, suspender or garter buckles, shotgun shells, rifle shells, the leather bottom of a shoe, a shamrock ring, brads, and a metal clasp of a purse, among other items.

In addition, animal bones have been found, which Pykles said could be indicative of the inhabitants’ diets. There are fish vertebras and even a small bird skull, possibly of a chicken. There are also some peach pits.

“It gives us an idea of what they may have eaten,” he said.

No human remains at the archeological site have been found. A cemetery is located on a hill northeast of the Iosepa town site.

A large blue and white fragment of a plate made in Japan has been an interesting find.

“You’d expect to find cream flatware,” said Chris Drosin, one of the students participating in the dig, adding he’s surprised at the detail of this particular piece.

Artifacts with time patents on them are of particular importance because they are indicative of the time the Iosepa pioneers lived there.

For example, a nursing bottle with a patent date of 1898, a nickel with the year 1904, and other bottles with dates correspond well with the time the Polynesian pioneers were there.

Jonathan Reeves, one of the archeology students on the project, said while working in one of the areas Monday he found roughly 15 artifacts — mostly pieces of glass and nails. He said while those are important finds, those aren’t as informative as complete items.

“Fifteen full bottles with dates in context with when people were living here would’ve been great,” he said, adding quality is more important than quantity where artifacts are concerned.

“Artifacts have helped us see what life was like here,” Pykles said. “They were in a very different place from Hawaii and how are they preserving, if at all, their Polynesian culture? Can any of that be found in trash they left behind?”

At the end of the day, the students and Pykles take the artifacts back to the Oquirrh Motor Inn in Lake Point, which is where they’re staying. They wash them, set them out to dry and work on categorizing the already dry finds from the previous day. The next day, the dried items are itemized according to location found, category and other details. Items along with their tagging information are put in baggies. Fragile or smaller items go in black, gray or clear film canisters.

Pykles said the agreement with the landowner — the Ensign Group — is the artifacts will go back to the State University of New York at Potsdam for five years where the items will be catalogued. After that time, there are several options available, including possibly giving the items to the Hawaiian Cultural Center in Midvale, who Pykles said has a pending grant they could possibly use to house them. Another option is the landowner could build a place where they could be stored at Iosepa proper.

“We don’t have room to store them at Potsdam and they don’t belong at Potsdam,” Pykles said. “They belong here.”

He said he plans to return in 2010 to resume fieldwork at Iosepa, as next year is another instructor’s turn to conduct a field project.

This is just a small field project rather than a major excavation of Iosepa. Before the students leave, they will fill the several square and rectangle areas of land back in with the dirt that was taken from them.

Pykles’ project is an archeology field school, which is required for archeology students at Potsdam. Students say they have learned basic information about Iosepa from material put together by Pykles. Also, the students have rotated spending time in Salt Lake City looking at archives and transcribing documents to gain more historical information concerning the settlement.

While one of the goals of the project this summer was to complete laying out the town in its entirety, that currently has not been finished. However, Pykles said there are enough stakes in lots of blocks so people can walk around and be shown where a lot of things were. Initial work done last summer involved staking out about a dozen blocks of the town.

Pykles said he believes the project, which began July 7 and will conclude Aug. 2, has been successful.

“Some major goals of the project were to start to understand how this place was laid out, and we’re starting to do that,” he said. “Another was to train students in archeology methods, and they’re doing that. I think the more we educate people about this place, the more they will want to preserve and protect this place.”

Archeology work will be done from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. this Saturday. The Iosepa Historical Association will be cooking and serving Polynesian finger food from noon to 1:30 p.m., and will talk about their organization, the Iosepa cemetery and the site.

“It’s an opportunity for people to come learn about archeology and Iosepa, and see archeologists in action,” Pykles said.

Iosepa is located about 15 miles from I-80 Exit 77 on UT-196. Signs will be posted on Saturday indicating where visitors should go to view the project.

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