Selling Things and Selling Sex: Archaeological Explorations of Sandpoint, Idaho 

Dr. Mark Warner, Historical Archaeologist

June 29, 2021

Program Description:  From 2008 to 2014 a team of archaeologists conducted a series of excavations in the north Idaho town of Sandpoint. Ultimately, the project proved to be one of the largest projects in the state’s history recovering several hundred thousand artifacts.  There are multiple themes that came out of this project. In this talk Dr. Warner will talk about two of their findings: a broad question of Sandpoint’s early economic connections to the world and a local question that many don’t think about - namely the economics of prostitution in Sandpoint. Underlying this talk is a goal of sharing how archaeology of the recent past can contribute in unexpected ways to understanding (and sharing) the past.

Bio:  Mark Warner is an historical archaeologist with over thirty years of experience in archaeology.  He has worked in many parts of the U.S. and conducted major excavations in Maryland, Oklahoma, and in the Inland Northwest. Recent work in the region included the Sandpoint Archaeology Project (the largest CRM project in the state’s history), and multiple public archaeology projects in Boise and Moscow, ID which were visited by approximately 3500 people.  A native of Michigan, Warner did his Master’s work at the University of Maryland and his Ph.D. at the University of Virginia.  He has been teaching at the University of Idaho since 1998. While at Idaho, he has authored or edited four books, two thematic journal issues, multiple articles and generated over $900,000 in funding. He is the immediate past president of the Society for Historical Archaeology.