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Photo: 2013 PAF site visit to the West Shipyard excavation (N. Delaware Ave. at Vine Street).
Featured Archaeological Project Report
Read the project overview
Link to the President’s House Site report
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 Philadelphia Burial Issues In The News…
Philadelphia Burial Issues In Past News…
Exhibits of Interest…
Trash Tells the Truth: Archaeology at the Museum (online and in-person)
Second-floor, Museum of the American Revolution (3rd and Chestnut Streets) through 2025.
This new archaeology display at the museum and online at the museum’s webpage interprets artifacts that were recovered during construction of the Museum of the American Revolution.
Throwback Thursday….
Urban Archaeology in Philadelphia: A Retrospective and Call to Action — a Philadelphia archaeology-based session that took place at the 2016 Society for Historical Archaeology annual conference:
- Archaeology at Bartram’s Garden 1975-Present. (2016) Joel T. Fry. Bartram’s Garden, an historic garden and house protected by the City of Philadelphia since 1891, saw little interpretation or visitation for almost a century. The current revival of the site can be credited to intervention by NPS historians, archaeologists, and landscape architects beginning in the 1950s. Professional preservation and conservation advice was coincident with documentary and biographical rediscovery of the Bartrams — particularly the 1955 rediscovery of William Bartram’s sketch of…
- Considering the Possibilities of an ‘Urban Public Archaeology’: The Findings of a 60-Year Retrospective of Public Archaeology in the City of Philadelphia (2016) Patrice L Jeppson. In practice, and in scholarly debate, historical archaeologists pursue urban archaeology either as the archaeology ‘of cities’ or as archaeology that is done ‘in cities’. Likewise, in practice and scholarly debate, there is variation and divergence in the definitions and terminologies related to what ‘Public Archaeology’ is and what it does. Drawing on the dynamic, diverse, innovative, and usually long history of public outreach and engagement in the city of Philadelphia, this talk — part of a…
- Dr. Jayne’s Skyscraper: The Chestnut Street Building that Housed a Patent Medicine Empire (2016) Meagan Ratini. Among the building remains uncovered during JMA’s 2014 excavations of the site of Philadelphia’s new Museum of the American Revolution were sections of the granite foundations of the famous Jayne Building. This building had been called an “ante-bellum skyscraper” by Charles Peterson, who rallied to save it from demolition in the 1950s. A century earlier, the construction of this substantial building had significantly altered its neighborhood and may have also influenced the later architecture…
- On the Waterfront: Archaeological Investigations along the Delaware River in Philadelphia (2016) Douglas B. Mooney. Since the late 1960s multiple archaeological investigations have been conducted along the city’s Delaware River waterfront – the area that forms the heart of Philadelphia’s historical social and economic center. These excavations have succeeded in documenting sites associated with the growth and development of the city’s port facilities, the foundation of the early ship building industry, 19th and 20th century industrial expansion, as well as the working class people and families who made the…
- A Philadelphia Patchwork: Considering Small-Scale Archaeology in the City of Brotherly Love (2016) Sarah Chesney. Deirdre Kelleher. Although many of the most well known archaeological projects undertaken in Philadelphia have been large-scale CRM projects, university-based research in urban archaeology also has a long history in the city. Recent archaeological projects completed at Elfreth’s Alley and The Woodlands reveal the contributions that two such small-scale academic projects can make to our overall understanding of Philadelphia’s urban development, and the insights that such projects offer not only into Philadelphia’s…
- Sixty Years of Archeology in Independence National Historical Park: Learning from the Past, Digging for the Future (2016) Jed Levin. Deborah L. Miller. Alexander Keim. Beginning in the early 1950’s archeologists began sifting the soil beneath Independence National Historical Park in an effort to help inform and guide the development of a new national park. Over the course of subsequent decades the formative work of Paul Schumacher, Barbara Liggett, and John Cotter, among others, shaped the park’s physical appearance, as well as the interpretive experience, for generations of visitors. In the process, these pioneers and their work played a key role in the birth…
- A Wealth Of Data From The Lives Of The Poor – Wringing All The Information Out Of A Historic Archaeological Site (2016) Mara Kaktins. When presented with the opportunity to fully excavate a site or feature, especially in an area of such historic importance as Philadelphia, there is an obligation to maximize the amount of information you can extract from the dirt. Preservation conditions within a privy associated with the First Philadelphia City Almshouse were excellent, warranting a careful methodological approach to recover as much data as possible. The anaerobic contexts within the water-logged feature yielded thousands of…
“We the People”: Historical Cemetery Archaeology in Philadelphia, session presented at the Society for Historical Archaeology 2022
Philadelphia’s cemeteries tell the stories of the people who built and shaped the “Birthplace of America.” These sacred sites and the remains of those buried in them provide information unavailable from any other source about the everyday lives, health, and mortuary practices of people who are otherwise invisible to history. Collectively, this information reveals over three centuries of acculturation and urbanization, class conflict and competition, racism and inequity, resistance and perseverance, and accomplishment among the people who witnessed many of America’s most important historical events. This session includes papers on projects that represent a wide range of cemetery types complemented by presentations on mortuary artifacts, human remains, and efforts to preserve these unique cultural resources.
- The African Friends to Harmony Burial Ground and Mutual Aid: Community Involvement Across Centuries (2022) Citation Only Kimberly A. Morrell. This is an abstract from the session entitled ““We the People”: Historical Cemetery Archaeology in Philadelphia” , at the 2022 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Throughout the nineteenth century, the African Friends to Harmony Burial Ground in West Philadelphia (1826-c.1886) received burials arranged by the African Friends to Harmony benevolent society as well as deceased members of the African Baptist Church of Blockley/Monumental Baptist and Mount Pisgah African…
- African-American Burial Practices and Community Identity, Cohesion, Social Resistance, and Autonomy in Ante-bellum Philadelphia (2022) John P. McCarthy. This is an abstract from the session entitled ““We the People”: Historical Cemetery Archaeology in Philadelphia” , at the 2022 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. There was a significantly greater occurrence of African-influenced or Creolized burial practices at the later of two cemeteries used by Philadelphia’s First African Baptist Church in the early nineteenth-century. Given that the process of laying the dead to rest represents a special social moment where…
- Bentham & Backhoes: a utilitarian approach to the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia cemetery excavation (2022) Kimberlee Moran. This is an abstract from the session entitled ““We the People”: Historical Cemetery Archaeology in Philadelphia” , at the 2022 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Archaeological projects that involve or encounter human remains must navigate a multitude of ethical considerations. Several established ethical frameworks can guide archeological decision-making when working in such contexts. This paper addresses the 2017 excavation of the First Baptist Church of…
- Burial Grounds Around the Edges: Franklin Square and St. Stephens (2022). Rebecca Yamin. This is an abstract from the session entitled ““We the People”: Historical Cemetery Archaeology in Philadelphia” , at the 2022 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Franklin Square, one of William Penn’s original squares, was refurbished in anticipation of the opening of the Constitution Center in Philadelphia. Historical research revealed that the First German Reformed Church leased a portion of the square to use as a burial ground in 1741. Following well established…
- Felons, Paupers, Or Overflow Burials? Un(der)-documented Burials In One Of Philadelphia’s Public Squares. (2022) Kenneth J. Basalik. This is an abstract from the session entitled ““We the People”: Historical Cemetery Archaeology in Philadelphia” , at the 2022 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Philadelphia was to be a “Green County Town” with wide streets and green spaces. As part of that vision five squares were created for the use of the public. In the eighteenth century some of these spaces were used as “potter’s fields”. Since burials in the squares was halted in the early 19th century, these…
- Not Your Average Pine Box: A Glimpse Into 19th Century Coffin Wood From The First Presbyterian Church In Kensington (2022) Matthew G. Olson. This is an abstract from the session entitled ““We the People”: Historical Cemetery Archaeology in Philadelphia” , at the 2022 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. In 1816, the First Presbyterian Church in Kensington purchased lots along Montgomery Avenue for use as a cemetery. The burial ground was active from 1818 to 1841, but the church obtained a relocation permit in 1857 and sold the land to the City of Philadelphia in 1861. Today, a section of the former cemetery…
- Osteobiographies of Mrs. Ann (née Crusoe) and Reverend Stephen H. Gloucester, Abolitionists of Philadelphia (2022) Thomas A. Crist. Kimberly A. Morrell. Douglas B. Mooney. This is an abstract from the session entitled ““We the People”: Historical Cemetery Archaeology in Philadelphia” , at the 2022 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Not all figures who sustain social or political movements are obvious or celebrated. For instance, in 1923 Rosetta Douglass Sprague published a short biography of her mother Anna Murray-Douglass, the first wife of Frederick Douglass. No such biography of Ann (Crusoe) Gloucester exists despite her husband…
- Picking Up the Pieces: An Analysis of the Bottles from the Former Blockley Almshouse Cemetery Site, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (2022) Alison M. Ricci-Wadas. This is an abstract from the session entitled ““We the People”: Historical Cemetery Archaeology in Philadelphia” , at the 2022 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Artifacts from places of confinement, excavated by archaeologists from institutions occupied long ago, provide unique insights into the people who lived, worked, and died there. Between 1835 and 1905, the Blockley Almshouse in Philadelphia housed the sick poor, mentally ill, unwed mothers, and children. In…
- The R.I.P. Myth: Why There Is Little Peace For Philadelphia’s Unmarked Historic Burial Places (2022) Douglas B. Mooney. This is an abstract from the session entitled ““We the People”: Historical Cemetery Archaeology in Philadelphia” , at the 2022 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Philadelphia has often been described as a city of cemeteries. Today there are more than 300 known burial sites spread throughout its borders – ranging from small family plots, to ancient churchyards, to large rural cemeteries. The vast majority of these exist as unmarked and redeveloped burial places that are…
Abstract: Archaeological investigations of the former Spring Street Presbyterian Church property resulted in the discovery of four stone and brick subterranean congregational burial vaults. In active use for only about 25 years, these chambers were found to contain the remains of more than 200 individuals, including large numbers of children. Excavations revealed that remains had been impacted by both natural and man-made processes at various points in the past; however, a total of 46 discrete burials were identified during the excavations. Findings from these investigations provide much previously-unavailable information regarding the structure, internal organization, and preservation of remains within 19th-century funerary vaults. Read the article here…
This January, 2024, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission lunchtime program is presented by Paul Nasca, Senior Curator of Archaeology with the State Museum of Pennsylvania. The program discusses historical archaeology and provides a summary of the preliminary research on one of Philadelphia’s earliest stoneware potters, Branch Green. View this archived program here…
PAF Congratulates Dr. David G. Orr on receiving the 2024 SHA J.C. Harrington Medal
David Orr, recipient of the 2024 J.C. Harrington Award. (Photo courtesy of Dr. Audrey Horning.)
The Society for Historical Archaeology’s J.C. Harrington Award is presented in recognition of a life-time of contributions to the discipline of Historical Archaeology centered on scholarship. No more than one Harrington Medal is presented each year. This year’s recipient is someone well known to the Philadephia archaeology community — Dr. David G. Orr! Dave was presented with the J.C. Harrington Award on January 3rd, 2024, during the annual meeting of the Society for Historical and Underwater Archaeology held this year in Oakland, California. Established in honor of historical archaeology pioneer Jean Carl Harrington (1901-1998), the award is an inscribed medal struck in antique bronze.
Among Dr. Orr’s many, many, achievements are his deep and wide contributions to the Philadelphia-area archaeological community. Between 1978 and 2003, he was a regional archaeologist in the National Park Service serving mainly in the Mid-Atlantic Region based out of Philadelphia. He is a long time local educator and mentor. Most recently, he taught Battlefield and Conflict Archaeology, Urban Historical Archaeology, Heritage Management and a gen-ed course at Temple University where he now Emeritus Professor of Anthropology. At the University of Pennsylvania (1973-1978) he fostered the early theoretical development of historical archaeology and material culture studies and convened the first graduate course in Industrial Archaeology. He long taught courses at the University of Delaware, and he implemented a substantive summer intern program in archaeology between 1980-1992 with students at Lower Merion High School.
Dave Orr is a long time leader and participant in the Philadelphia Archaeological Forum where he was a founding member as well as the first President, as he was in the Oliver Evans (Philadelphia) Chapter of the Society for Industrial Archaeology (a founder and first President).
Dave’s early archaeological research in our area involved numerous local sites — Mill Creek, 310 Cypress Street, the Woodlands, Point Breeze Gas Works (a HAER project with Penn student Herbert Levy), Rittenhouse Town, Elfreth’s Alley, Moravian Street, Edgar Allan Poe House, and Area F in Independence National Historical Park. With his students in more recent decades he has worked at Graeme Park, the Henry Muhlenberg House in Trappe, Bonnin and Morris porcelain factory site, and Timbuktoo, an African-American community in New Jersey. Dave Orr has led or conducted more excavations and research projects in Valley Forge than any other individual, and has been active there from 1973 until the present.
Dave Orr’s many publications cover a wide range of topics. Among those specific to the archaeology of this area include his co-edited volumes (2014) ‘The Historical Archaeology of the Delaware Valley’ and (2019) Historical Archaeology of the Revolutionary War Encampments of Washington’s Army”, and the (2003) article, “Samuel Malchin in Philadelphia” in Ceramics in America (https://www.chipstone.org/…/Ceramics-in-America-2003/…).
PAF is pleased for Dr. David G. Orr who is a most deserving recipient of this important honor! Congratulations Dave!!!
Learn more about David Orr at PAF’s “Who We Are, What We Do Page”
Recent Web Publications on Philadelphia Archaeology
Read this March 2023 National Park Service web article here…
RECENT BOOK PUBLICATIONS –drawing upon archaeological research from this area…
The Permanent Resident: Excavations and Explorations of George Washington’s Life by Philip Levy, Professor of History at the University of South Florida.
Chapter 6, entitled ‘What Hides in Plain Site at Philadelphia’s “President’s House”‘, discusses the excavation findings, the resulting commemoration, and the broader, general context of the site at 6th and Market Street.
This book has been selected to receive the Society for Historical Archaeology’s 2024 James Deetz Book Award.
RECENT 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 Moone 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…
Now available from Temple University Press:
*New Edition: Three new chapters (burial grounds, Rte I-95, and the whole story of the Museum of the Amer Revolution) and addenda to a couple of the older chapters:
Digging in the City of Brotherly Love:S tories from Philadelphia Archaeology: Stories from Philadelphia Archaeology
Second Edition, Rebecca Yamin, Publication Date: September 8, 2023
320 pages, 75 color photos, 2 tables, 10 figures, 91 halftones, 9 maps, 7 x 10″
New archaeological finds in Philadelphia and state-of-the-art analyses bring more of the city’s unknown past and its people to life
Historic Philadelphia has long yielded archaeological treasures from its past. Excavations required by the National Historic Preservation Act have recovered pottery shards, pots, plates, coins, bones, and other artifacts relating to early life in the city. This updated edition of Digging in the City of Brotherly Love: Stories from Philadelphia Archaeology (Publication Date: September 8, 2023) continues to use archaeology to learn about and understand people from the past.
Rebecca Yamin adds three new chapters that showcase several major discoveries from recent finds including unmarked early eighteenth-century burial grounds, one of which associated with the first African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, in the oldest part of the city; a nineteenth-century working-class neighborhood built along the path of what is now Route I-95 and was once home to Native American life; and the remains of two taverns found on the site of the current Museum of the American Revolution.
Yamin describes the research and state-of-the-art techniques used to study these exciting discoveries. In chronicling the value of looking into a city’s past, Digging in the City of Brotherly Love brings to life the people who lived in the early city and the people in the present who study them.
Rebecca Yamin is a historical archaeologist specializing in urban archaeology and the former director of the Philadelphia branch office of John Milner Associates, Inc., a company that specialized in historic preservation and cultural resource management. She is the author of Archaeology at the Site of the Museum of the American Revolution (Temple), which won the 2022 James Deetz Book Prize given by the Society for Historical Archaeology, and Rediscovering Raritan Landing: An Adventure in New Jersey Archaeology; the co-author of The Archaeology of Prostitution and Clandestine Pursuits; and the co-editor of Landscape Archaeology: Reading and Interpreting the American Historical Landscape.
320 pages, 75 color photos, 2 tables, 10 figures, 91 halftones, 9 maps, 7 x 10″
Order: https://tupress.temple.edu/…/digging-in-the-city-of…
Paper Price: $35.00 (EAN: 9781439922101); eBook Price: $35.00 9EAN: 9781439922118)
Publication: Sep 2023
“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.
Nearby research is included in this groundbreaking 2021 volume, Archaeologies of African American Life in the Upper Mid-Atlantic, which explores the archaeology of African American life and cultures in the Upper Mid-Atlantic region, using sites dating from the eighteenth through the twentieth centuries. Sites in Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York are all examined, highlighting the potential for historical archaeology to illuminate the often overlooked contributions and experiences of the region’s free and enslaved African American settlers. Learn more here…
From the Archives…
“A Wealth of Materials“…”Revealing Hidden Lives“…”Protecting Burial Grounds“…”Mapping Potential“…. An article about Philadelphia archaeology. Read here…
Recent RECOGNITION FOR CONTRIBUTIONS MADE TO PHILADELPHIA ARCHAEOLOGY…
Rebecca Yamin, Recipient, 2022 Society for Historical Archaeolog, 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
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.
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)
Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia’s 2018 Public Service Award for Preservation in the Public Interest presented to PAF
Philadelphia Archaeological Forum Awards (The PAF Douglas Heller Award, The PAF Award of Merit)
A brief history of archaeology at Independence National Historical Park can be read here…
by admin