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Recent news….
PAF Site Visit to Byberry Township African American Burial Ground
On behalf of the Philadelphia Archaeological Forum, PAF members Jed Levin and Patrice L. Jeppson made a site visit March 6th, 2023, to the Byberry Township African American Burial Ground in Northeast Philadelphia. There they meet on-site with Jacqueline Wiggins, an expert on the subject of African American studies in Philadelphia, Hannah Wallace, a freelance consultant to the Greater Philadelphia Preservation Alliance and The Society to Preserve African American Assets (SPPAAA), whose specialty is 18th-19th century Philadelphia African American history, and ˜Jennifer Robinson, Director of Preservation Services for the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia. The Preservation Alliance and SPPAAA are in public and private dialogues to develop and execute a formal plan for landscaping, wayfinding, and publicly interpreting the Byberry Township African American Burial Ground. PAF is pleased to be able to offer assistance to this effort. Read the site visit report …
Nearby Archaeology Exhibits of Interest…
Beyond the Bell: Philadelphia’s Global Heritage
ONLINE Exhibit, West Chester University
Click here to enter the ONLINE exhibit
With rare artifacts on loan from the National Parks Service, Lest We Forget Museum, Landis Valley Museum, Archdiocese of Philadelphia, among others; and original works by numerous Philadelphia-based artists such as Diane Keller, Ana Vizcarra Rankin, Salome Cosmique and Sue Chen, Beyond the Bell’s exhibits on labor, immigration, transportation, fashion and arts, festivals, sports and pop culture reveal the richness and global importance of the “City of Brotherly and Sisterly Love.”
Prepared by students, in partnership with the Global Philadelphia Association, this special exhibition at West Chester University’s Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology celebrates the 50th anniversary of UNESCO’s World Heritage Convention by exploring the rich heritage of Philadelphia. Philadelphia’s Independence Hall and its famed Liberty Bell was one of the U.S.’ first World Heritage sites, deemed to be of universal human value for its importance in the creation of the world’s first Enlightenment-era Republic. However, the exhibition delves beyond this colonial narrative to show that Philadelphia’s global heritage is the result of continuous interactions of diverse communities over time.
I-95 Archaeology Center ONLINE (short video tour, 4:18 minutes):
Would you like to talk with archaeologists and get up close and personal with artifacts recovered by AECOM cultural resource managers during the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s I-95 Girard Avenue project? The Archaeology Center offers this unique interpretive experience free to the public. Located in the heart of the project area, the Archaeology Center serves as a working archaeological laboratory while the I-95 Girard Avenue Interchange Project is ongoing. The Archaeology Center is open most Wednesdays, 12-4 pm. Please call ahead to confirm. Masks are strongly encouraged. 900 E. Columbia Ave Philadelphia, PA 19125. 215-982-2792. This Is across N. Delaware Avenue from Penn Treaty Park.
NEW PUBLICATIONS by PAF members
“Cursed Be He That Moves My Bones”: The Archaeologist’s Role in
Protecting Burial Sites in Urban Areas, by Elizabeth D. Meade and Douglas Mooney in Advocacy and Archaeology: Urban Intersections, edited by Kelly M. Britt and Diane F. George, Berghahn Press, New York. (Chapter 2) which can be ordered here
“Great earthly riches are no real advantage to our posterity”: Space, Archaeology and the Philadelphia Home, by Deborah L. Miller, in At Home in the Eighteen Century: Interrogating Domestic Space, edited by Stephen G. Hague and Karen Lipsedge, Routledge Press, 2022 (Chapter 8):
Chapter Abstract Philadelphia Merchant Caleb Cresson began developing the northern half of a Philadelphia city block in the early 1760s. Within this small domain he built his own brick home and more than twenty other houses, including multiple tenements, which he rented primarily to working and middling class families. It was in this environment that Cresson and his tenants coexisted for the next forty years, and while their lived experiences were often blurred by the communal nature of urban living, study of the homes they lived in and the objects that they owned reveals that their domestic lives differed greatly, particularly in terms of space. Archaeological excavations on the block, however, revealed that while the domestic interiors of the lower sorts were modest, the goods in their home were illustrative of their aspirations to respectability. Through the consumption of objects, these groups were forging their own identities as participants in the greater culture of the Atlantic World.
Published in River Chronicles, the Journal of Philadelphia Waterfront Heritage & Archaeology, Volume 4, 2019-2020, pages 6-7.
AECOM has created the archaeological journal, River Chronicles, to highlight the over 1,000,000 artifacts and hundreds of features uncovered during archaeological excavations along the I-95 corridor in Philadelphia. The recovered artifacts reveal 6,000 years of history associated with the Port Richmond, Kensington-Fishtown, and Northern Liberty neighborhoods. AECOM is conducting these excavations as part of the I-95 Highway Improvement Project on behalf of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration.
“The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration are undertaking a long-term, multiphase project to improve and rebuild Interstate 95 (I-95) in Pennsylvania, within the historic city of Philadelphia. Given the complex urban setting, the
See Steve Tull, Sustainable Neighborhood Public Outreach: I-95 GIR Archaeological Investigations in Philadelphia, Advances in Archaeological Practice, 2020, pp. 1–17
archaeological subsurface testing for the I-95 Girard Avenue Interchange Improvement Project is being guided by a programmatic agreement under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act and a categorical exclusion under the National Environmental Policy Act. Through data-recovery excavations, the contractor for the project, AECOM, has documented 30 historical-period and Native American
archaeological sites. The project includes its own professional journal, live interactive reporting, and a public archaeology center.”
RECENT RECOGNITION FOR CONTRIBUTIONS MADE TO PHILADELPHIA ARCHAEOLOGY…
Rebecca Yamin
Recipient, 2022 Society for Historical Archaeology
James Deetz Book Prize
An excerpt of this award winning book, published by Temple University Press can be read here.
The James Deetz Book Award is named for James Deetz (1930-2000), whose books are classics for professional archaeologists as well as for non-specialists. Deetz’s accessible and entertaining style of writing gave his books influence beyond the discipline because they are read by a broad audience of non-specialists. The Deetz Award is intended to recognize books and monographs that are similarly well-written rigorous scholarship accessible to all potential readers” (SHA).
Avenging the Ancestors Coalition (ATAC)
Recipient, 2022 Society for Historical Archaeology
Award of Merit
“…for their work to honor and highlight the enslaved men, women, and children who labored in Philadelphia at the President’s House, which is also known as America’s first White House, and further recognizing ATAC for its persistent fight to preserve African American historical sites in the City of Philadelphia”.
Established in 1988, the SHA Award of Merit recognizes specific achievements of individuals and organizations that have furthered the cause of historical archaeology. Although the award is given for scholarly as well as other contributions, the honorees need not be professional archaeologists nor members of The Society for Historical Archaeology. A full and varied range of contributions to the field are considered. The Award of Merit is an inscribed certificate under glass, suitably framed, and normally a number of awards are given each year. (SHA)
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDot)
Engineering District 6
Recipient, 2022 Society for Historical Archaeology
Daniel G. Roberts Award for Excellence in Public Archaeology
“…for their public interpretive work on the I-95 Girard Avenue Interchange Reconstruction Project, which passes through a series of historic Philadelphia neighborhoods”.
The public interpretive work recognized by this award includes AECOM’s online interactive archaeology report, Digging I-95, the associated Archaeology Center museum (currently closed due to COVID restrictions but you can view a short video about it), the related publicly directed journal, River Chronicles, and the many outreach activities undertaken by subcontracted AECOM cultural resource personnel.
This public outreach makes available to the public archaeological discoveries from along the Delaware River waterfront in the Philadelphia neighborhoods of Northern Liberties, Kensington-Fishtown, and Port Richmond. These sites, and the artifacts within them, were uncovered during archaeological excavations conducted in advance of construction for the I-95 Girard Avenue Interchange Improvement Project. Read more about the public outreach that earned this award in this online Cambridge University Press report by Stephen W. Tull, Sustainable Neighborhood Public Outreach: I-95 GIR Archaeological Investigations in Philadelphia:
Established in 2011, the SHA Daniel G. Roberts Award for Excellence in Public Historical Archaeology recognizes outstanding, sustained accomplishments in public historical archaeology by individuals, educational institutions, for-profit or non-profit firms or organizations, museums, government agencies, and private sponsors. This award was established in honor of Daniel G. Roberts, a Philadelphia native who was a pioneer in the fields of cultural resource management, historical archaeology, and public archaeology. (SHA)
Independence National Historical Park
Recipient, 2022 Society for Historical Archaeology
Award of Merit
A brief history of archaeology at Independence National Historical Park can be read here…
Established in 1988, the SHA Award of Merit recognizes specific achievements of individuals and organizations that have furthered the cause of historical archaeology. Although the award is given for scholarly as well as other contributions, the honorees need not be professional archaeologists nor members of The Society for Historical Archaeology. A full and varied range of contributions to the field are considered. The Award of Merit is an inscribed certificate under glass, suitably framed, and normally a number of awards are given each year. (SHA)
The Philadelphia Archaeological Forum
Recipient, 2022 Society for Historical Archaeology
Award of Merit
“…for shining a spotlight on Philadelphia’s incredible archaeological heritage and for being an advocate for studying and preserving Philadelphia’s archaeological resources.”
Learn more about PAF here…
Formed in 1967, the Society for Historical Archaeology (SHA) is the largest scholarly group concerned with the archaeology of the modern world (A.D. 1400-present). The main focus of the society is the era since the beginning of European exploration. SHA promotes scholarly research and the dissemination of knowledge concerning historical archaeology of the modern world since the time of European exploration. The society is specifically concerned with the identification, excavation, interpretation, and conservation of sites and materials on land and underwater. Geographically the society emphasizes the New World, but also includes European exploration and settlement in Africa, Asia, and Oceania.
THE PAF BURIAL GROUND DATABASE…
→ Click * here * for the Historical Burial Places Map and Database page
As longtime advocates for those who can no longer speak for themselves, PAF is lobbying for clearer municipal laws that compel developers to handle burial remains respectfully. We have created an extensive geographical database (GIS) that currently includes more than 200 historic burial places in Philadelphia.
It is PAF’s intention that,in addition to being useful to historians, archaeologists, and other researchers, consulting the database of known cemeteries and private family plots will become a starting point in the process of due diligence of both developers and the city of Philadelphia when considering new projects.
The database, originally the personal research of archaeologist Kimberly Morrell, has been assembled from historic maps, newspapers, academic theses and other sources. Research is ongoing, but the database is the most comprehensive such resource to date.
More Recent Philadelphia Burial Issues In The News…
Philadelphia Burial Issues In Past News…
In The News...
FEATURED ARTIFACT…
Scroll to pages 34-37 here to read more about this artifact in Glentworth’s Celebrated Syrup by Thomas J. Kutys (The Journal of Philadelphia Waterfront Heritage and Archaeology, Vol. 4, 2019-2020). This insight into Philadelphia’s past stems from an extensive PennDOT construction project along Interstate I-95, north of the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, on properties that once formed part of several waterfront neighborhoods. The archaeological investigations were undertaken by archaeologists employed by AECOM Corporation in Burlington, NJ.
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