Check Out These Local Landscape Transformation Animations

In addition to digging in the dirt, cleaning and sorting artifacts, writing a book, and all of the other projects that City Archaeologist Joe Bagley is tasked with, he has found time to create a few landscape transformation animations.

The animations show the structural progression in areas of Boston over huge timespans. Bagley has released three animations so far, and is planning to make more.

Courtesy of Joe Bagley

This animation shows Bagley’s interpretation of about 3,000 years of landscape history in Back Bay.

Courtesy of Joe Bagley

This view depicts the past 1,000 years at Dorchester’s original Common and meetinghouse in Richardson Park. Savin Hill and Boston Harbor can be seen in the background. Bagley writes that records from the early exploration of the area indicate that the region had few trees near the coast when Europeans arrived.

Courtesy of Joe Bagley

The Old State House (built in 1713) is shown here—backtracking to its 1775 appearance at the Boston Massacre, all the way to 1657, when the Town House was first built. The animation ends with what the land might have looked like before European began to settle in Boston.

You can follow Bagley’s animations and other updates about the City Archaeology Lab via Facebook.