Ever wonder if Central City has more than gold hiding under its soil? Curious locals had the chance to find out at an open house archaeological dig site led by Metropolitan University Assistant Professor Jade Luiz and her students on Saturday, June 8.

They were excavating the former brothel district on Pine Street, which included the renowned Madam Lou Bunch House and four other brothels from over a century ago.

Luiz said 10 to 15 people attended the event, which was located on a hill to the west of Pine Street, just under the inactive Coeur D’Alene mine.

The team’s deepest excavation was about a meter deep. At the Bunch House, they hit bedrock and thought they were done until they noticed the bedrock was cut, aligning with records that the house was carved out of bedrock. They plan to expand and dig more in that area next year.

Recently, the team unearthed a metal medallion depicting Saint Camillus, the patron of hospitals, nurses, and the sick. They also discovered a high-button boot with a heel but left it in the lab due to the leather’s fragility.

Fascinating finds: MSU research students excavating at the Madam Lou Bunch dig site. Thus far, the team has found more than 5,000 artifacts from the late 1800s when Madam Lou Bunch and others occupied the former brothel district on Pine Street. [/caption]

The team was digging at five different sites, some with isolated lead levels that they avoided.

Research students Teddy Espinosa and Kera Walker have focused on the Bunch House all season. Teddy found a heart-shaped padlock and a coin, which were displayed at a recent presentation at the Gilpin County Library.

Espinosa, a junior, chose archaeology as his senior field experience, motivated by his interest in the subject and desire to attend another of Luiz’s classes.

Walker, a senior, has spent over 60 hours at the site this season. Her most exciting find was a Central City soda water bottle with diagnostic information, allowing them to pinpoint its origin. The bottle “cross-matched,” meaning pieces found in adjacent holes fit together.

Walker plans to continue studying archaeology, focusing on Cultural Resource Management, involving field surveys, digging, and mapping stratigraphic layers.

Dr. Jade Luiz holds a piece of ceramic found at the dig site. The fragment containing letters most likely belonged to a shaving cream jar. Luiz thinks it is part of a last name since shaving mugs would often have the owner’s first initial and full last name.[/caption]

Archaeologists sift through small areas of earth, and Luiz teaches her students to work on their knees to better judge the excavation walls, revealing changes in soil texture and color that provide historical context.

“Everything is on an invisible grid,” Luiz explained, referring to the geo-referencing method they use to categorize the site, indicated by small colored flags throughout the area.

They have dug 19 holes so far, each progressively excavated 10 centimeters at a time, sifting through the dirt. Then they discovered a solid layer of black, composed of charcoal and burned wood, indicating a new stratigraphic layer.

The team still has many questions about the precise locations of the competing brothels. Luiz admitted that “archaeology is inherently destructive,” as they can never return a site to its original state. She looks forward to a future where archaeology could be done without digging.

“I don’t think we’ll ever stop digging. It’s core to our identity,” Luiz said.

They are interested in the relationships between objects and the historical context of the area to form a more complete interpretation of history.

The first task this summer was marking surface artifacts to measure erosion over the past year. After digging 80 centimeters into the shallow soil, they found artifacts such as a decorative spoon and the saint medallion. They also found leather rosettes, the purpose of which is still unknown.

Last year at the Bunch site (House 1), the students discovered stones in a line, theorized to be foundation walls. Inside the excavation hole, they found a complete but fragmented serving dish lid.

Houses 1 and 2 were the last active brothels. House 2 had been occupied by Fred and Nell Warwick, whose arrest marked the end of Central’s toleration of brothels.

Under House 2, the group found a layer of machine parts from the nearby mine and, further down, a thin layer of soil containing a chandelier drop, a glove, and a cut-glass coaster.

Luiz has uncovered over 180 newspaper articles detailing the history of the Pine Street Sex District. One account from Laura Evans, a brothel operator from Salida who rented one of the establishments, describes ore rolling down from the nearby mine and hitting the sloped roof of the house, supporting the theory about the house’s placement against the hillside.

The team also uncovered a stack of newspapers with some legible words. Luiz hopes to identify the newspaper through careful study.

She also pointed out a piece of silk cloth found over burnt wood planks. Initially planning to remove it, she decided to wait until next summer to retrieve the entire artifact.

Although the Central City Opera House Association owns the land and granted permission for the excavation, the team took out a state permit requiring the items to be stored in a state-licensed repository. Luiz hopes to establish a repository in Central City to house the items.

She has a long-term, ten-year goal to return to the site each or every other summer. She invites the public to volunteer, believing that “public archaeology” promotes funding and site preservation by creating awareness.

For more information, visit Central City Archaeology on Facebook.