Masculine Domesticity in the Mining West: An Archaeological Investigation at Coloma Ghost Town
The recovery of a scorifier, or roasting dish, at Feature 131 in Coloma, Montana led to the theory that the feature represented an assayer’s household. Historical documentation, in the form of a personal diary, revealed that the assayer at Coloma, Chester Pray, shared a cabin with another man. This revelation led to a particular question: what would the material record of an all-male household look like? The majority of previous engendered investigations into 19th century households focused on the role of women. Gender is often equated with women in historical and archaeological studies, and it became necessary to integrate literature from masculinity studies in order to put the artifacts from Feature 131 into a full context. Although results from the archaeological data in this case were inconclusive, the compilation of literature from household archaeology, engendered archaeology, history, and masculinity studies in this thesis will be useful for any historical archaeologist working on sites in the mining West.
gender, historical archaeology, masculinity
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