Renovation gives clues to life in 1648 Boston
To the uninitiated, the dirty mix of mud, bone, and cow dung is a 350-year-old piece of trash. But to archeologists, the recent discovery at Boston's oldest house is a gleaming, golden nugget.
The brick-hard concoction, used in the mid-17th century for insulation and retrieved during restoration at the James Blake House in Dorchester, is giving archeologists their earliest glimpse of the everyday lives of the city's first European settlers.
The mix, called wattle and daub, will be examined under a microscope beginning next week in the city's archeology lab. What researchers find, they say, could change long-held theories about what the early Puritans ate and farmed and how they built their houses.
"This is a window of opportunity that we have here right now," said city archeologist Ellen Berkland, who is live-in curator at the house in Edward Everett Square. "It will be sealed up soon with new shingles, and we won't be able to get to it for another 100 years."
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The brick-hard concoction, used in the mid-17th century for insulation and retrieved during restoration at the James Blake House in Dorchester, is giving archeologists their earliest glimpse of the everyday lives of the city's first European settlers.
The mix, called wattle and daub, will be examined under a microscope beginning next week in the city's archeology lab. What researchers find, they say, could change long-held theories about what the early Puritans ate and farmed and how they built their houses.
"This is a window of opportunity that we have here right now," said city archeologist Ellen Berkland, who is live-in curator at the house in Edward Everett Square. "It will be sealed up soon with new shingles, and we won't be able to get to it for another 100 years."