Prof. Nan Rothschild & Prof. Jessica Striebel MacLean

“Archaeology in the City; Archaeology of the City: New York”

Friday, April 12, 2024
1:10 – 3:00pm
Anthropology Lounge
(Room 465, Schermerhorn Ext.)

Cities are complex entities that are difficult to describe and analyze. Archaeology (between art and science) can only access certain aspects of human life. How has urban archaeology been undertaken in New York City and what has it provided in the way of insights into city life and urban processes? Much of the recent archaeological research in New York has been conducted as part of environmental compliance, with a few “research driven” projects. The processes of understanding the material record, including landscape, artifacts, faunal and archaeobotanical remains, have taken a very long time and required multiple stages of analysis. We will consider what we have earned and which areas remain, as yet, inaccessible.

PROF. NAN ROTHSCHILD is Professor Emerita at Barnard College, Anthropology, and is the former director of the Columbia Museum Anthropology Program. She co-directed the first two large block excavation projects in lower Manhattan, and the Seneca Village project in Central Park. Her most significant books include: Buried Beneath the City: the Archaeological History of New York City, (co-authored), the Archaeology of American Cities (co-authored); Colonial Encounters in a Native American Landscape; and New York City Neighborhoods: the Eighteenth Century.

PROF. JESSICA STRIEBEL MACLEAN is an Urban Archaeologist for the City of New York. Her work focuses on the intersection of archaeology, community engagement, and public interpretation and the ways community-based research and public heritage can bridge the gaps between academic research, cultural resource management, and urban communities; a subject most recently explored in her work on the Hunts Point Slave Burial Ground Project in the Bronx. In addition to co-authoring Buried Beneath the City, she has written about colonial identity in the Atlantic world.

The Anthropology Faculty Talk Series offers a collective space for an informal presentation and discussion of ongoing research by our faculty members. The Anthropology Graduate Student Association (AGSA) organizes the series with the support of the Department of Anthropology. 

Please RSVP HERE by Monday, April 8. For any questions or concerns, please contact Minny Lee (ml4826@columbia.edu). Thank you.