MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA—Excavation of the site of the Mistletoe Hotel, which opened in Melbourne in 1855 during a Gold Rush, has recovered some 250,000 artifacts. The colorful hotel had a long history and provided a pub, livery stables, and a meeting space to immigrants landing in the city. “The excavation has uncovered a variety of items—some not seen before—reflecting an explosion of wealth coming into Melbourne and providing a really dynamic picture of the hotel’s past,” Jeremy Smith of Heritage Victoria told the Herald Sun. The artifacts include a gold stick pin and other jewelry; silver coins; beer, wine, champagne, cognac, gin, and rum bottles; a handgun; a jar lid for “Highly Scented Russian Bear’s Grease;” ceramic figurines; utensils; pipes; and a rising sun hat pin badge from the Australian Commonwealth Military Services. An apartment building will be constructed on the site, which had been covered and protected with a parking lot. For more, go to "Rogues' Gallery: The Convicts of Early Australia."
