Check out these 5 pieces of Toronto history found during Eglinton Crosstown construction
Workers dug up an ancient hunting camp, bottles, pottery, cow's pelvis
Pieces of Canada's history as old as 5,000 years have been uncovered in midtown Toronto as crews dig the Eglinton Crosstown LRT tunnel. Specialists say the artifacts show how show the area has changed over the centuries.
1. Glass bottles
Various glass bottles, including a milk bottle, were found during excavation close to Kennedy station. The archeologist said they were from an old dumping pit located on a historic farmstead there.
"These are definitely all pretty cool, I think," said Nick Brzezinski, environmental manager for the Eglinton Crosstown project.
Work stops when crews unearth artifacts and objects. They call in an archeologist to assess the item, who then determines the next steps.
2. Hunting camp
The oldest items workers discovered were found at the site of a 5,000 year old hunting camp. More than 2,800 objects were uncovered, including stone tools and ceramics.
"It's a chance to reflect on what other histories have been lost over time and where might there have been other human activity," said Kaitlin Wainwright, director of programming at Heritage Toronto.
The items have been preserved and catalogued by a third party company, according to Metrolinx.
3. Horse bones
When workers discovered bones in the earth, they had to stop work to make sure they weren't disturbing what could have been a crime scene.
"They were horse bones," said Brzezinski. "We didn't need to call the police or the coroner."
Crews found a horse hoof, which confirmed the location was, in fact, an old farmstead.
4. Cow pelvis
In July 2018, during work to install a new utility pole, the crew at Mount Pleasant also found some bones. The archeologist determined the large size of the bone and obvious straight cut indicated that it was cow pelvis from a butcher shop that had previously been in the area.
5. Pottery
Crews found pieces of pottery at the Fairbanks station site at Dufferin Street and Eglinton Avenue. The project archeologist estimated the pottery dated back to the late 1800s to the early 1900s from a farmstead in the area.