« Previous Entries

65,000 colonial artifacts unearthed in New York City

65,000 colonial-era artifacts have been unearthed during construction of a subway station in New York City.

The goat bones and oyster shells tell us what our colonial forefathers ate. Stone jugs from Germany show where they traded, and stylish brass buckles and pointy leather shoes are a reminder that New Yorkers have always been fashion savvy.

These are among 65,000 historic artifacts that have turned up during construction at the South Ferry subway station, and offer a rare glimpse into colonial New York. Next month, a new exhibit will provide the public with a window into this vanished way of life.

“This is probably the only time in our lifetime that this area will be dug up and studied,” said Carissa Amash, curator at the New York Transit Museum, which will showcase the artifacts discovered at South Ferry.

“We have history books. But the artifacts provide information about what was actually going on,” Diane Dallal, archaeology director for AKRF, a firm that analyzed the remnants.

[Full story] [Discuss here]

Tags: , , , , , , | 3 Comments »>

 

Personal Arifacts from Fromelles

The BBC has posted a collection of poignant photographs showing some of the 6,000 personal artifacts that were recovered from WWI mass graves in Fromelles, France.

More than 6,000 artefacts were recovered with the bodies of 250 Australian and British World War I soldiers at Pheasant Wood in the French village of Fromelles. they include this Bible page with passages underlined.

[Full story]

Tags: , , , , | 1 Comment »>

 

Military veterans working on archaeological project

A group of U.S. military veterans are working on a project to sort through a massive government collection of Native American artifacts.

The collection dates to the 1930s, when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers started building dozens of locks, dams and reservoirs, and the ground beneath them was excavated for archaeological treasures.

In recent weeks, U.S. veterans — many disabled — have begun processing, cataloguing, digitizing and archiving the collection as part of a one-year $3.5 million project, funded with federal stimulus money.

It’s part of the corps’ effort to find American Indian cultural items and return them to tribes or their descendants — something all federal agencies must do under a 1990 law.

[Full story]

Tags: , , , , | 1 Comment »>

 

Thousands of artifacts found during historic home renovation

A Maryland couple has unearthed thousands of artifacts during renovations of their historic home.

The Kent Island couple began unearthing artifacts almost as soon as a construction company tore out their old kitchen a month ago. In the dirt under what used to be the floor were parts of old shoes, part of a pipe, bones from a wild boar and other animals, oyster shells, bells, bottles and many pieces of pottery.

For now, the artifacts, most still covered in a thin layer of dirt, are being held in bins.

The Leeses knew their home was historic, dating back to the mid-18th century and featuring the same kind of brickwork common at London Town in Edgewater, but just how historic remains to be seen. An archaeologist and a team of volunteers began an extensive examination of the site this weekend.

[Full story]

Tags: , , , | No Comments »>

 

10,000-year-old artifacts found in Norway

A collection of artifacts dating back 10,000 years have been found in Oslo, Norway.

Archeologists now say Oslo’s history will have to be re-written. They have made new escavations which show that people have lived on the Ekeberg heights east of the capital for 10,000 years.

The artifacts found include flint chips and other evidence of tool production, which show that people have lived here more than 2000 years longer than experts previously believed.

The new find includes a settlement, which in those days was located at the waters edge, but now is found high up in the hillside. The land has risen after the ice cap which covered much of the area melted.

[Full story] [Photo source]

Tags: , , , | 1 Comment »>

 

« Previous Entries