History Revealed

History Revealed. . , Excavations of the Ludlow tent cellars permitted archaeologists to contribute to the historical record., The cellars provided the most comprehensive snapshot of daily life in the tent colony., The goals of archaeology at Ludlow were to reconstruct the day-to-day existence of the strikers, something that the history books usually do not address. According to oral testimonies, cellars were used for storage, extra living space and protection from the weather and occasional gunfire. The tragic event forced families to abandon their possessions. During the clean up after the fire, the cellars provided convenient trash pits. Contents of an entire household were concentrated in these cellars. Artifact analysis revealed types of furniture, kitchen items, dishes, toys, clothing and food used at the tent colony. Studying people's possessions helped archaeologists determine the makeup of a household, family size, relative affluence and nationality., Artifacts from the Colorado Coalfield War Project serve public education through museum exhibits and traveling history trunks designed for school-age children., Captions , Lower Left: Archaeologist excavating a cellar during the summer of 2002 , Lower Middle: Coffee pot found at the site of the Ludlow Tent Colony , Lower Right: Coal miners cooking inside a tent, using a coffee pot similar to that found during excavation