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Buried Beneath the City: An Archaeological History of New York Paperback – September 6, 2022

4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 14 ratings
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Winner, 2023 SAA Book Award - Popular, Society for American Archaeology

Honorable Mention, 2024 Felicia A. Holton Book Award, Archaeological Institute of America

Bits and pieces of the lives led long before the age of skyscrapers are scattered throughout New York City, found in backyards, construction sites, street beds, and parks. Indigenous tools used thousands of years ago; wine jugs from a seventeenth-century tavern; a teapot from Seneca Village, the nineteenth-century Black settlement displaced by Central Park; raspberry seeds sown in backyard Brooklyn gardens―these everyday objects are windows into the city’s forgotten history.

Buried Beneath the City uses urban archaeology to retell the history of New York, from the deeper layers of the past to the topsoil of recent events. The book explores the ever-evolving city and the day-to-day world of its residents through artifacts, from the first traces of Indigenous societies more than ten thousand years ago to the detritus of Dutch and English colonization and through to the burgeoning city’s transformation into the modern metropolis. It demonstrates how the archaeological record often goes beyond written history by preserving mundane things―details of everyday life that are beneath the notice of the documentary record. These artifacts reveal the density, diversity, and creativity of a city perpetually tearing up its foundations to rebuild itself. Lavishly illustrated with images of objects excavated in the city, Buried Beneath the City is at once an archaeological history of New York City and an introduction to urban archaeology.
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  1. Print length
    312 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Columbia University Press
  4. Publication date
    September 6, 2022
  5. Dimensions
    7 x 0.75 x 10 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0231194951
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0231194952
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

What a fascinating and inspiring book! Exploring thousands of years of New York City’s ecological, material, and social history, Buried Beneath the City shows us not only what we can learn from the material leavings of the past but also how archaeologists work to make sense of this evidence. -- Elizabeth Blackmar, coauthor of The Park and the People: A History of Central Park

This beautiful book demonstrates how much is available to recover from beneath our feet in New York City. The authors guide us sure-handedly through the pre-twentieth century collision of cultures that still affects our world today. -- Leslie M. Harris, author of In the Shadow of Slavery: African Americans in New York City, 1626-1863

Buried Beneath the City unearths a new vista, the remains of the days before Europeans arrived and of lost quotidian life since. Take a revealing self-guided underground expedition through material evidence that sheds light on the periods and people neglected by the documentary record. -- Sam Roberts, author of A History of New York in 101 Objects

This is a terrific book, one well worthy of reading. Writing a book accessible to all readers, the authors present the complexities and the unique contributions of archaeological excavation and thorough research on the recovered artifacts to our understanding of the panorama of human occupation of a living city. I applaud the authors for their success. -- Martha Zierden, coauthor of Charleston: An Archeology of Life in a Coastal Community

About the Author

Nan A. Rothschild is an urban social archaeologist who was Ann Whitney Olin Professor of Anthropology at Barnard College and is adjunct professor at Columbia University.

Amanda Sutphin is the director of archaeology at the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission and manages the NYC Archaeological Repository: The Nan A. Rothschild Research Center.

H. Arthur Bankoff is the advisor to the chair for archaeology at the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission and is a professor emeritus in the Department of Anthropology at Brooklyn College, City University of New York.

Jessica Striebel MacLean is an urban archaeologist at the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission and the NYC Archaeological Repository.

The Landmarks Preservation Commission is the largest municipal preservation agency in the United States. It is responsible for protecting New York City’s architecturally, historically, and culturally significant buildings and sites by granting them landmark or historic district status and regulating them after designation.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Columbia University Press (September 6, 2022)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 312 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0231194951
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0231194952
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7 x 0.75 x 10 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 14 ratings

About the authors

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  1. Amanda Sutphin

    Amanda Sutphin

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    Director of Archaeology at the New York City Landmarks Preservation. Urban Archaeologist with over twenty five years of experience including establishing the NYC Archaeological Repository: The Nan A. Rothschild Research Center.

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  2. Nan A. Rothschild

    Nan A. Rothschild

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
14 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Gary Felumlee
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Publication
Reviewed in the United States on March 28, 2024
Verified Purchase
I'm very impressed with this useful book. It follows the settlement and history of New York City and the area around it as seen from the archaeological record buried beneath the city. It is well illustrated with photographs of the artifacts and historical illustrations, where many recent professional archeological publications and reports seem to fall short. There is a lively discussion of the citizens and various cultural developments that occur through history. To me, it is an excellent addition to Historical Archaeology, serving everyone with that interest and possibly in the classroom environment too.
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D'AWG
4.0 out of 5 stars If you love New York, read this book.
Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2024
Verified Purchase
This was a joy for me because I love maps.
Comparing the old maps with the Google map of present day NYC was a real kick.
Lavishly illustrated, it was easy to follow the narrative with the accompanying photos and maps.
The only thing preventing 5 stars was the narrative itself, clearly a work of several individuals, sometimes hard to follow.
Next time get a ghost writer. If this was ghost writing, use someone else next time.
All in all, a really good book.
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Top reviews from other countries

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Amazon Kunde
4.0 out of 5 stars Sehr interessantes Buch über die noch relative junge Geschichte / Archäologie in Nordamerika
Reviewed in Germany on September 27, 2023
Verified Purchase
ich hätte mir noch mehr Bildmaterial gewünscht
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