I find out about rat nests − right here’s why rodents make nice archivists

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Rats and different rodents and pests could make nice archivists.

That’s as a result of they forage meals and construct dens, storing material, paper, animal bones, plant stays and different fabrics underneath floorboards, in the back of partitions and in attics, move slowly areas and wells. There, those fabrics would possibly dry out and stay undisturbed for centuries.

Via inspecting the fabrics in those nests, archaeologists like me can be told extra concerning the individuals who as soon as lived close by.

I studied a rat nest that was once utilized by generations of rats over a number of many years and was once discovered underneath the floorboards within the attic of the historical house at Bartram’s Lawn in southwest Philadelphia. In 1728, Quaker farmer and naturalist John Bartram started to plant his lawn, which is thought of as the oldest botanic lawn in North The usa. I studied 1000’s of vegetation gathered by way of rats and discovered how the Bartram circle of relatives used those vegetation for meals, medication, business and find out about.

A view of the Bartram circle of relatives’s historical stone house.
Magpieturtle/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY

A 200-year-old nest

Rat nests are commonplace in historical buildings, in particular properties like Bartram’s that contained kitchens and structures that have been used for meals garage, similar to cellars.

Bartram gathered vegetation from round jap North The usa in…

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Author : bq3anews

Publish date : 2025-12-19 19:33:00

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