Archeologists Find Artifacts As Work on MBTA Begins

A casual stroll by a Peabody Museum archaeologist past construction sites in Harvard Yard led to the discovery of historical artifacts that may provide important information about life in Cambridge and at Harvard in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.

Randy Moir, a project archaeologist at the Peabody Museum's Institute of Conservation Archaeology (ICA), was walking past Harvard Hall last Friday and stopped to explore the trenches dug by Metropolitan Boston Transportation Authority (MBTA) workers. The workers are rerouting pipes to make way for the extension of the Red Line.

In the trench Moir found a dozen pieces of ceramic and glass dating from the colonial era. He returned on Monday and found 20 more artifacts.

"I was really surprised. I didn't expect to find so many artifacts in that area. The MBTA was going right through a site that hadn't been disturbed for over 200 years." Moir said.

Stop the Shovels Moir contacted ICA director Michael Roberts, who met with representatives from Harvard University, the MBTA and the Massachusetts Historical Commission today to determine whether construction should be halted pending complete excavation of the area. Because federal funds are being used for the MBTA project, the final decision will be made by the National Advisory Council of Historical Preservation, based on the Massachusetts Historical Commission's evaluation of the historical value of the find.

In the meantime, archaeologists have been following the MBTA workers in an attempt to salvage some of the artifacts and reconstruct the stratification pattern which indicates the chronology of the debris.

Among the items found by the archaeologists are buttons, porcelain, chicken bones, pipe stems and what Roberts terms "typical college material": beer steins and wine bottle fragments. Many of the artifacts date from the 1600s. In addition to the Harvard Hall site, artifacts were found by Grays Hall and Wadsorth House. Roberts said that the latter site seems to have been the town dump, which is an archaeologist's treasure trove.

Despite the numerous articles that were collected, Moir said yesterday that "95 per cent of their cultural value was lost since the digging disrupted the stratification pattern." Moir said it may be possible to reconstruct the pattern by comparing the artifacts with those found in an undisturbed area.

"This is an important historical find, and it seems to be a unique collection in terms of its range and quality," Roberts said yesterday, adding that some of the artifacts, particularly in the Wadsworth House site, could yield information about the economy and trade patterns in colonial Cambridge.

"It's a valuable cultural resource, which could contribute a great deal to our understanding of the history of Harvard, the history of Cambridge, and what it was like to live over two centuries ago," Roberts said.

Later

MBTA officals doubt they will find more remnants along the way, as they begin construction on the Red Line extension to Alewife, but such occurences are not unusual. For instance, there is the famous example of the time they started digging the subway for Mexico City in the late 1960s and unearthed a whole city.

Heavy construction for the Red Line project is expected to get underway this winter.