The legend of Malcolm X and insight into his past continue to mystify the world. Fortunately, it gained a bit of a boost recently as artifacts from his childhood have been discovered beneath his childhood home.

The home, located at 72 Dale Street, Boston MA, was recently the site of a fascinating archaeological find in the trenches around the home’s foundation. Archaeologist have dug up thousands of artifacts from vinyl records of American folk songs in the 1950s to toys and house items used during Malcolm X’s life time.

Built in 1874, the home has been owned by Malcolm X’s family since the 1940s.

X lived there in the home with his older, half sister Ella Little-Collins after his father died and mother was institutionalized.

The home is currently owned by Rodnell Collins, Ella’s son, who has plans to restore the home and is considering turning it into apartments for graduate students studying civil rights, social justice or African-American history. This all according to the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Since the home is an historical landmark, archaeologist had to conduct an investigation on the grounds before work could be done on the home’s foundation. This led to the discovery of the artifacts we are marveling over today.

From Yahoo:

“One of our first surprises was that there was a lot more from Malcolm and Ella’s time period than we thought there was going to be,” said Joe Bagley, an archaeologist with Boston’s City Archaeology Lab who finished digging Friday (May 20). One of the reasons for this, Bagley suspects, is that in the 1970s, the home was vacant and it was vandalized. The windows were broken, and a lot of the home’s contents were tossed out and left in the yard. That was bad for the house, but good for archaeology, Bagley said.

“I wish it hadn’t happened, but we’re recovering a lot of materials that were in the house that the family hadn’t seen since the looting in the ’70s,” Bagley told Live Science, adding that Rodnell Collins has been able to identify toys that he played with and pieces of his mother’s mixing bowl.

“What I think we’re really going to find is, Ella’s story more than Malcolm’s story here. She was the one who bought most of the materials in the house.”

There were artifacts discovered from at least 100 years before the house was even built, which has many people fascinated and excited to see what else will be unearthed.