Boomtown Archaeology with Kelly Dixon

The Extreme History Project: The Dirt on the Past

Join us for this lively conversation with Dr. Kelly Dixon, an archaeologist who studies boomtowns, colonization, colonialism, extractive industries, human-environment interactions, landscape transformations, and marginalized populations. We discuss her work excavating the Boston Saloon in Virginia City, Nevada and the resulting book, Boomtown Saloons: Archaeology And History In Virginia City where Kelly discusses the excavation of four historic saloons in Nevada’s Virginia City and how the artifacts from this handful of drinking establishments, affiliated with a range of ethnic and socioeconomic groups, offers a new perspective on everyday life in the mining West. To Learn more: Boomtown Saloons: Archaeology and History in Virginia City by Kelly Dixon The Materiality of Freedom: Archaeologies of Postemancipation Life by Jodi A. Barnes