Before the James Blake House was moved in 1895 to a part of what was then Dorchester Common near the newly named Edward Everett Square, a pond on the property had to be filled in. Neighbors contributed their trash to the damp site to help top off the fill, leaving a treasure trove of historical artifacts for city archeologists to unearth when they began an excavation on the property in 2007.

Two of those artifacts, part of a “snapshot” of 1895 Dorchester, are included in city archeologist Joseph Bagley’s book, “A History of Boston in 50 Artifacts.” Bagley presented some of the highlights in the book at the Dorchester Historical Society on Sunday.

The Blake House itself sits today as somewhat of an historical paradox, said Bagley in noting that “it’s the oldest house in Boston, but the youngest thing on that property.”

As luck would have it, Bagley writes in his book, “the remarkable preservation at this site, caused by the consistently wet soils in the filled pond, preserved organic materials such as paper labels on bottles, peanut shells, matches, and cloth.” Among the items retrieved during excavations overseen by then city archaeologist Ellen Berkland were a lady’s wallet and a Rock and Tar medicine bottle.

Just before the turn into the 20th century, Dorchester was in the midst of a rapid transformation, Bagley said. Irish immigrants were flocking from the North End into Dorchester’s multi-family three-deckers and women were increasingly working outside the home, either by choice or necessity, a social movement reflected in historical finds at the Blake House site like the embroidered wallet and a number of glass nursing bottles.

Choosing what to feature from the millions of artifacts overseen by the city’s archeology department was no small task, said Bagley who chose to emphasize diversity in material and origin, accounting for populations that have been overlooked or neglected in most histories.

“When conducting historical research, we tend to bump into the problem that some people are just missing,” Bagley told the society. “Like, we don’t get minorities. We don’t get children. We don’t see a lot of women in the historic record.”

Bagley says he took the idea for the book from Neil MacGregor’s “A History of the World in 100 Objects.” Future books are in progress, he said, including one on Boston’s historic buildings.

Proceeds from the sake of the books will go to the city’s archeology department, which always has ongoing excavations like the one at the Malcolm X house in Roxbury and other projects, like the sorting of artifacts recovered from the site of the former Industrial School for Girls on Centre Street in Dorchester.