Boylston Street Fishweir

In archeological literature, the name Boylston Street Fishweir refers to ancient fishing structures first discovered in 1913, buried 29 to 40 feet (8.8 to 12.2 m) below Boylston Street in Boston, Massachusetts. Reports written in 1942 and 1949 describe what was thought to be remains of one large fishweir, 2,500 years old, made of up to 65,000 wooden stakes distributed over an estimated 2 hectares (4.9 acres) of the former mud flat and marshland in what is now the Back Bay section of Boston. A different interpretation of these findings is offered by new evidence and contemporary archeological research techniques.

Throughout the world fish weirs, wooden fence-like structures built to catch fish, are used in tidal and river conditions as a passive method to trap fish during the cycle from low to high tide, or in river flow. Fish weirs built in places of large tidal change, 12 to 20 feet (3.7 to 6.1 m) between ebb and flow, are built with 4-to-6-inch-diameter (10 to 15 cm) vertical support poles holding woven nets. Fish weirs in shallow estuaries water, or in small streams, may be built with 1-to-3-inch-diameter (2.5 to 7.6 cm) vertical stakes and the horizontal structure, called wattling, made of brushwork to form a rough barrier at mid-tide depth.

Fish weirs have been used in coastal areas by indigenous peoples in all parts of the world. Fish weirs have been discovered dating back to 7,500 years BP, and in some locations are still being built and used today. Along the coast of developed areas of North America and Europe permits are now required in order to build a fish weir. Depending on fish populations in an area, and local maritime use, fish weir construction may be prohibited entirely. This has been an issue of concern to Native American tribal groups along the New England coast.

In 1913, subway workers tunneling under Boylston Street to extend Boston’s early subway system discovered wooden stakes in the blue-gray glacial clay, 32 feet (9.8 m) below street level. Workers destroyed many of the stakes, but enough evidence was gathered at the time that researchers thought they had found one large fish weir, thought to have been built 2,000 years earlier. This discovery was first described in a report by the Boston Transit Commission in June 1913.

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