In 2002, Scarlett earned his Ph.D. from the University of Nevada, Reno. The following year, the landowner called Scarlett, who had left his card on a visit. "He was planning some expansions of his house" and wanted to hold off until he knew whether the work would damage archaeological features.

In 2004 Scarlett did some "shovel test probes" and found that the extension would not impact the location of the early shop. Now he and Merritt are doing follow-up excavation at the site of a workshop.

Large stones at the rear of the property are what is left of foundation walls that once supported the wood-frame workshop. The workshop itself is multi-layered, and the layers tell stories.

Beneath an asphalt surface was a blacktop surface. Under that was a light-colored layer of clay-like material. Under the clay was a thicker stratum of coal and waste, where the excavation is taking place.

"It would have been a dusty, messy place," Scarlett said. The coal dates from between 1870, when the railroad reached Salt Lake City and began hauling in coal, and 1898, when Petersen died, and the family discontinued the pottery.

The light layer probably is clay, from piles that were curing before they would be used in making ceramics. When the potter-making ended, Scarlett theorizes, the family shoveled clay over the clinkers and waste.

The lid of a washing machine that stood beside the excavation was covered with paper bags, each labeled, each holding finds. Scarlett joked that the washing machine was "the lab table."

One treasure discovered was a set of what seem to be long feather quills, found stuck to an iron plate. All were carefully split vertically. At first this puzzled the diggers, who thought nobody would split quills that were used for writing. Then they realized, the feathery material could have been extracted from the quills for use on fancy lady's hats.

"Very fashionable, 1880s, '90s," Scarlett said of these hats. Perhaps, the three weavers were making millinery goods at the same time the potter was making his wares.

A shiny brown-glazed marble was among the prizes. Potters would make them for neighborhood children, who liked to hang around the shop. Sometimes boys out chopping wood in the hills would find a good deposit of clay, grab a sample, and trade the location for marbles.

One large fragment of pottery was from a milk pan, while another was from a storage crock that could have held a gallon or more of preserves in the ice house.