An Indigenous Burial Site Unearthed on Commercial Street
Construction work in front of Mr. Amos Brown’s residence reveals human remains, highlighting the history of the land.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Saturday while some men were engaged in working on the streets in front of the residence of Mr. Amos Brown, they came upon a human skeleton, some two feet below the surface. It was undoubtedly that of an Indian, as we learn that this point was formerly an Indian burying ground, from which several skeletons have been exhumed within the past few years.
“It was undoubtedly that of an Indian, as we learn that this point was formerly an Indian burying ground.”
This burial ground was located in what is now the heart of Pioneer Square. It serves as a reminder that the rapid development of Seattle in the 1870s frequently physically displaced and disrespected the ancestral sites of the Duwamish and other Coast Salish peoples.
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