Category: Street-Smart Naturalist Blog

Seattle’s subterranean history has become all the rage of late. From mammoths to Bertha, the stories keep cropping up. Since events seem to happen in threes, it makes me wonder what else is lurking just beneath the surface: an earthquake, a sinkhole (like the one that swallowed Corvettes in Kentucky), or more shoes wrapped in Yiddish newspapers? This is the issue raised by the always astute Knute Berger, in a story in Crosscut titled “Could the Bertha boondoggle be a local history boon?”

Berger wonders whether Bertha’s stoppage will lead to new revelations about the city’s history. The machine stopped at an ideal spot, just west of where the city started, and where much debris (or what others call archaeology) awaits discovery. No one expects any Pompeii-like discoveries but by unearthing artifacts such as bottles, shoes, combs, or glasses we start to “paint a more human, intimate picture of the lives people led,” writes Berger.

As someone who is interested in history, I have been asked many times why we should care about the past? For me, it boils down to two reasons. The first is that it provides me a deeper connection to my home and to the people who lived here. As we dig up these artifacts and find items such as a Rainier beer bottle, baby formula, or bottled water imported into Seattle in the late 1800s from Alaska, it’s hard to think that I am so different from those who lived here before. We came here for many reasons and we do many different things but in the end we are really not that different, in wanting a place to live, food to eat, water (or beer) to drink, friends to share our lives with.

The second is that knowing the past of the place I live, makes it more interesting to live here. It gives me a fuller and happier life. This may sound like a particularly nerdy platitude but I know I am not alone in holding this view. Consider how often the subject of Seattle’s past has come up in recent weeks and how often you and your friends have discussed what lies beneath. I really do think that there is a hunger for these stories.

I agree with Berger and hope that those who are trying to fix Bertha, take the opportunity to do some good archaeology on the way down to fixing her. It’s the least they can do and could provide a silver lining for what many consider to be a pretty ugly mess.

 

Yesterday, a worker found a tusk in Seattle. The well preserved specimen, most likely from a mammoth but possibly from a mastodon, was unearthed at a site in South Lake Union. After making the discovery, the workers contacted the Burke Museum, which sent a team of experts to examine the site. Unfortunately, they were not able to excavate it, as it is on private land the owner had not yet decided what to do with the tusk.

Based on the initial analysis, Burke paleontologists believe that the tusk comes from a mammoth. If that is the case, it is most likely a Columbian mammoth, as that is the species known from this area. In fact, there have been at least 18 discoveries of mammoth remains in King County. They include tusks, molars, femurs, and various fragments. One of  the most recent was found at Lakeview Elementary in Kirkland during the excavation for the school’s gymnasium. At the time, it was reported in the press that tusk was from a mastodon. Subsequent research showed that it was actually from a mammoth. It was also age-dated to 16,540 ± 80 14C yr B.P., or 19,710 calendar years before present, the youngest evidence for mammoths in the region.

No matter what species it is, the tusk is further evidence of the many stories that lie just beneath the surface and that reveal the complex history of the Seattle landscape. I suspect there will be further chapters to come.