Archaeologists unearthed more than 5,000 artifacts in Fairfield

The history of the "four squares" at the heart of colonial Fairfield lives today — not just on the printed page, but in the ground.

Archaeologists have unearthed more than 5,000 artifacts from one of the squares carved out by settlers in 1639.

The artifacts, some of which are believed to be nearly 300 years old, came from ground around the Sun Tavern, a historic structure where President George Washington slept in 1789 — 10 years after 2,000 British troops invaded and torched Fairfield.