Abstract
In the fall of 2023, Idaho Public Archaeology conducted a field school at Moscow High School to unearth Moscow, Idaho’s earliest school’s history. As a secondary research objective, a portion of the high school’s property was excavated that was formerly the site of a handful of early homes. The units were placed where the backyards of the homes would have been, with evidence that residents disposed of their trash through burning it. This data was able to represent the domestic items that were used and consumed by early Moscow residents. This thesis focuses on the health-related artifacts found within the domestic contexts. Using both the archaeological data from the excavations and the historic record that is available, this research takes a full scope approach towards understanding how residents practiced health and medicine at the turn of the twentieth century. Additionally, national political movements and health initiatives are used to create a perspective in tandem with local movements to understand the influence that they had on rural communities.