Centuries-old artifacts found in Seattle

Some of the stuff they have found is not much to look at, but it is a tangible link to our past:

Workers building a rainwater storage tank under the Magnolia Bridge recently unleashed a torrent of Emerald City history, helping recover roughly 2,600 artifacts dating back as far as the 1700s, officials said Tuesday. Most of the items are believed to be from Finntown, an immigrant community along Smith Cove from 1911 to 1941, researchers say. The discovered objects include Prohibition-era alcohol bottles, old shoes, and even children's toys. It's a really special site because this is one of Seattle's smaller shantytowns," said 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 there." [...]  Archaeologists have been cataloging the items, which include eyeglasses, suspenders, and a token for the old Seattle Municipal Railway. Several artifacts show the presence of Native Americans on the site, experts said, including a chisel likely built from the femur of an elk. Another surprising discovery: a Chinese coin dating back centuries, likely brought to the area by an immigrant.

Lindsay Cohen, 'Workers find centuries-old artifacts under Seattle bridge', KOMO News Jul 1, 2015