King County Workers Find Centuries-Old Artifacts

Pieces of early-American history, some dating as far back as the 1700s, were recently unearthed by workers in Seattle. Here's what they found ...
King County Workers Find Centuries-Old Artifacts
Archeologists work at the site where about 2,600 artifacts have been found. The items are believed to be from Finntown, an immigrant community along Smith Cove from 1911 to 1941. The area was cleared out by the U.S. military during World War II.

A project to build a rainwater storage tank has uncovered early-American history. About 2,600 artifacts dating back to as far as the 1700s were recovered from under a Seattle bridge, including Prohibition-era alcohol bottles, old shoes, eyeglasses and children’s toys, KOMO News reports.

“It’s a really special site because this is one of Seattle’s smaller shantytowns,” says Alicia Valentino, the project archaeologist. “This very diverse community that was living in this spot (was not) mentioned in the historic record, so it really tells us a lot about this group of people that was living here.”

Construction on the tank began last year. Chris Townsend, the environmental and community services section manager for King County Wastewater Treatment Division, explains that consultants are kept on hand in case of instances like this one — discovering centuries-old historical artifacts.

“There’s always another part of the story waiting to be found, especially when you dig big holes like you need to for these stormwater projects,” Townsend adds.

Source: KOMO News



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