SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH—KSL.com reports that nineteenth-century artifacts were uncovered by workers digging a utility trench at the site of the orginal Fort Douglas. Volunteer soldiers and their families established the outpost, which is a National Historic Landmark, during the Civil War period of the early 1860s. The fort’s original wooden barracks were replaced with sandstone buildings in 1875, and the site was inhabited up to the early twentieth century. Volunteers assisted with the recent excavations, which revealed buttons, pieces of glass and metal, an intact inkwell, bullet casings, a military insignia, chicken and cow bones, and enamel and ceramic dishes, according to archaeologist Sheri Ellis. The artifacts were found in a trash deposit that may have been used to level the ground under a building, or may have been left behind after a building burned down. To read more about the archaeology of the Civil War, go to "Do No Harm."
