A recent archaeological dig searching for fortifications at the site of the Battle of Bunker Hill in Charlestown unearthed musket balls, gun flints, personal items from soldiers and new details about what happened during that pivotal and bloody conflict more than 250 years ago. Boston City archaeologist Joe Bagley spoke with GBH’s Morning Edition host, Tori Bedford, to share details from the dig. What follows is a lightly edited transcript.
Tori Bedford: So, you were looking for this fortification that was built there, right? But it’s made of earth. So, how do you go about finding something like that, this earth fortification that’s built but also then buried under the ground?
Joe Bagley: So, the fort that was made overnight in about five hours, it was basically the most simple thing you could build to be a fort. You would dig a trench, you would pile the dirt up next to that trench, and so it creates this kind of ditch and then immediately next to the ditch, an earthen wall. Then you stand behind that wall, and it allows you to be protected, and it creates a bigger barrier for people who come and attack. So, over the years, that would have eroded, and then ultimately it was leveled in order to build the monument that you see today. So, there’s no visible evidence of that fortification, but the trench that they actually dug, that would have likely survived by being filled in. So, what we were really looking for is evidence of a linear area that has a different kind of density of soil. That could be what’s left of the outline of the fort, because the parapet, which is the wall, that would have been erased not too long afterward, and certainly by the time the monument went up…