Digging Up the Past in Utah

A scientist from Michigan is digging up the past in Utah. The 19th century pottery he unearths will be displayed at the Iron Mission State Park Museum in Cedar City.

Tim Scarlett, an archeologist at Michigan Technological University, calls pottery one of Utah's "pioneer-era" industries.

"The potters helped build a society in the desert," he says.

Scarlett and his team have located 45 sites in 26 Utah towns, from Logan to St. George, from Panguitch to Vernal.

He heads the Utah Pottery Project, which is working to gather into one place information about the potters, their work, their products and their contributions to the history of Utah. The exhibit will open this spring.

Scarlett envisions a replica of a pottery works. He wants to involve teachers, students, community planners, the media, genealogists, historians, ceramics artists, chemists, art historians and archival experts.

"My hope is to reinvent public archeology," he says. "Utah could become a best-practice model."

Michigan Technological University is an R1 public research university founded in 1885 in Houghton, and is home to nearly 7,500 students from more than 60 countries around the world. Consistently ranked among the best universities in the country for return on investment, Michigan's flagship technological university offers more than 185 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science and technology, engineering, computing, forestry, business, health professions, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, and the arts. The rural campus is situated just miles from Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, offering year-round opportunities for outdoor adventure.