Publication: University of Montana
Author: Molly Elizabeth Swords
Date of Publication: 2008
PDF File: Swords-A-Clean-Slate-The-Archaeology-of-the-Donner-Party.pdf
Description
Archaeologists use material remains to better understand the lives and experiences of people who lived in the past. In the case of the 2004 archaeological investigation at Alder Creek, the location of the Donner Party’s Donner family camp, writing slate fragments were found. When I first started this project, I was given the task of examining writing slate fragments to explore ways in which it might be possible to identify remnant writing on those slate fragments to better understand the experience of the people who were stranded in one of the infamous Donner Party starvation camps.