NEW YORK: Despite its modern lack of either greenery or open space, downtown Manhattan was, as recently as the 19th century, part farmland. Construction workers stumbled across a site from that time—a wall and well that were once part of the farm of Stephanus van Cortlandt, the city's first native-born mayor, and his descendants. Among other artifacts, archaeologists found a pipestem, pottery and stoneware, and a yellow ceramic bird's head, all likely from the 18th century.
NEW YORK
Around the World July 1, 2011
Recommended Articles
Letter from the Catskills May/June 2024
Ghost Towns of the Ashokan Reservoir
An archaeologist investigates how construction of New York City’s largest reservoir a century ago uprooted thousands of rural residents
Letter from Lake George September/October 2019
Exploring the Great Warpath
Evidence from forts, hospitals, and taverns in upstate New York is illuminating the lives of thousands of British soldiers during the French and Indian War
Digs & Discoveries November/December 2015
Lake George's Unfinished Fort
Off the Grid September/October 2012
Aquincum, Hungary
-
Features September/October 2024
Hunting for the Lost Temple of Artemis
After a century of searching, a chance discovery led archaeologists to one of the most important sanctuaries in the ancient Greek world
Courtesy Swiss School of Archaeology in Greece -
Features July/August 2024
Java's Megalithic Mountain
Across the Indonesian archipelago, people raised immense stones to honor their ancestors
(Courtesy Lutfi Yondri) -
Features July/August 2024
The Assyrian Renaissance
Archaeologists return to Nineveh in northern Iraq, one of the ancient world’s grandest imperial capitals
(Land of Nineveh Archaeological Project) -
Features May/June 2024
Searching for Lost Cities
From Iraq to West Africa and the English Channel to the Black Sea, archaeologists are on the hunt for evidence of once-great cities lost to time
(© BnF, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais/Art Resource, NY)