Buried treasures from the city’s past will be on view at a new Manhattan research center
New York City has catalogued and created a digitized archive of the many buried artifacts from its past; Wednesday the Landmarks Preservation Commission is officially opening a repository of those countless artifacts. The New York Times reports that the Nan A. Rothschild Research Center–the first municipal archive devoted to a city’s archaeological collection, has found a home in Midtown Manhattan. More than a million artifacts will now be available for viewing by researchers and scholars by appointment; a digital archive is already available. The climate-controlled repository at 114 West 47th Street contains artifacts from 31 excavated sites from all five boroughs, including the city’s first major historical dig, the Stadt Huys (now 85 Broad Street in Lower Manhattan), which, when the artifacts were discovered in 1979, raised the idea that archaeological treasures were buried beneath old buildings.
This dog burial was found in College Point, Queens in the 1930s. It was determined that it had been interred by Native Americans over one thousand years ago.
Images Courtesy of NYC Archeological Repository
The artifacts were brought together from 14 different locations throughout the city. The center is named for Nan A. Rothschild, a professor emeritus of anthropology at Barnard College and a faculty member of Columbia University, to honor her contributions in the field; developer the Durst Organization donated the space for the repository.
The digital archive offers images, maps, an education guide and student quiz, a searchable database, archaeological reports and information on local colleges and universities that offer degrees in the field.
[Via NYTimes]
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Lead image courtesy of NYC Archeological Repository.
