Unearthing Gotham: The Archaeology of New York City

by Anne-Marie Cantwell, Diana diZerega Wall

Under the teeming metropolis that is present-day New York City lie the buried remains of long-lost worlds. The remnants of nineteenth-century New York reveal much about its inhabitants and neighborhoods, from fashionable Washington Square to the notorious Five Points. Underneath there are traces of the Dutch and English colonists who arrived in the area in the seventeenth century, as well as of the Africans they enslaved. And beneath all these layers is the land that Native Americans occupied for hundreds of generations from their first arrival eleven thousand years ago. Now two distinguished archaeologists draw on the results of more than a century of excavations to relate the interconnected stories of these different peoples who shared and shaped the land that makes up the modern city.

In treating New York’s five boroughs as one enormous archaeological site, Anne-Marie Cantwell and Diana diZerega Wall weave Native American, colonial, and post-colonial history into an absorbing, panoramic narrative. They also describe the work of the archaeologists who uncovered this evidence―nineteenth-century pioneers, concerned citizens, and today’s professionals. In the process, Cantwell and Wall raise provocative questions about the nature of cities, urbanization, the colonial experience, Indian life, the family, and the use of space. Engagingly written and abundantly illustrated, Unearthing Gotham offers a fresh perspective on the richness of the American legacy.

Genres: Archaeology, New York, History, Nonfiction, Cities

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Julia Russ · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a born and educated Californian, I really didn't know much about the history of New York City — but one of my classes this term focused on Northeastern Native populations, with a narrower study of the city at the end of the term, and it truly was fascinating. Unearthing Gotham was supplemental reading for the class, and though I only had to read the first half relating to the Munsee up to European contact, I ended up reading the entire book.

As with my other archaeology textbook, I did find this one to be pretty dry at times — but it was definitely more readable and more interesting than your typical textbook. And while I truly don't find the study of dishes fascinating, it was valuable learning about the Munsee, the original Dutch settlers of New Amsterdam, and how the city grew into what it is today. I also found the last chapter on the African Burial Ground to be very meaningful — I feel like I know New York City fairly intimately and had no idea it was here. If interested in the origins of this city of ours, I would check this one out.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

The archaeology of New York is made more difficult by the constant building --literally onto of everything. However, this book shows some of the painstaking work done by archaeologists to find some of the sites of the Native Americans (Munsees), as well as the more modern inhabitants of New York.

Clearly written, the authors show the care taken to preserve sites as well as the frustration of dealing with amateurs and builders.

New York history buffs will find this interesting, but anyone interested in urban archaeology will find this a must-read!

[Wendell · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first and most important thing to know about this book is that it was produced by a university press—a high-end, well known university press and, in this case, one whose editors, book designers, and advertising copywriters were better at their jobs than were the authors, but a university press nonetheless. That fact wafts off every page. Indeed, it’s interesting to speculate about who the writers and publisher imagined the audience for this book to be. Unearthing Gotham isn’t scholarly enough to appeal to professional archeologists and historians, and it’s entirely too dull to be a popular trade book (though, to judge from the way the product is externally presented and packaged, that is exactly what Yale Press had in mind). In fact, Cantwell and Dizerega-Wall seem to be doing their intentional best to make sure none of the information they present ever comes to life: rather, it unfolds in the dry, detached, dispassionate tones of a first-year college lecturer. In what is blatantly an attempt to satisfy some sort of political agenda, the first third of the book is given over to a discussion of the Native Peoples who lived for millennia in the area that is now the 5 boroughs of New York. The trouble is, the physical evidence of thousands of years of native presence and culture could apparently now be contained in an average-sized garage; in other words, it has almost all been destroyed, built-over, lost. That’s a shame, but it’s not a good reason to make us read a hundred pages in which the authors have substantially this to say: "we don’t actually know about New York, but over there they did this, and other Native Peoples did that, and we can conjecture that maybe they were like this." In a word, it’s a bore. Okay, one thinks, when we get closer to the present, the archeological evidence will be more complete and the history will get more interesting. And yet, no. To be sure, there are more sites, more finds, more evidence, but the lives behind the relics remain as remote and shadowy as ever; the authors simply don’t know how to put flesh on those bones. Cantwell and Dizerega-Wall present graphs dedicated to such things as the percentage of clay pipe fragments relative to ceramic fragments in privy sites. They make much of analyses of the kinds of dishes used by people in various geographical areas and of various classes and ethnicities, assuring us that such data tell us a great deal about social distinctions and about the tenor every day life. They do? Such as? That lots of pipe fragments suggests that a pub instead of a house stood on the site? That people over there liked to serve tea to their guests, while those other people tended to invite people for dinner? That's the kind of fascinating insight for which the reader is expected to plow through 300 pages of densely written prose? Other than providing the material for PhD dissertations that one heartily suspects were never read by anyone who didn’t have to read them, most of what is presented in Unearthing Gotham is similarly unhinged from deeper meaning or analysis and it simply isn’t possible for the non-archeologist to develop the slightest enthusiasm for it. The many tiny, murky photographs or the maps reproduced on such a small scale that they can't be read don't help (and that's one blazing indication of a university press's legendary parsimony). The truly great ”popularizers of science” (of which there are more than a few) know how to bring even technical information to life for a mass audience; sadly for the reader, and unfortunately for such a potentially engaging topic, Cantwell and Dizerega-Wall never even come close.

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

For anyone interested in archaeology, this is a fascinating book. While I have never taken a course in archaeology, it is an area of study that I would have liked to pursue. Reading this book is a wonderful look into what can be learned about our heritage from the leavings of people in past times.
Beginning with the earliest people who used the land to modern times, the book gives glimpses our past history and how New York became one of the world's most influential centers of trade.
Every chapter tells of one era of New York's amazing past. There is evidence about the ways that the people lived, worked and died, which give a view into a world we never knew existed.

[Purvi · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are interested in the history of NYC, going way way back a thousand years, this book is for you. It talks about the land and how it changed through time and the various native people that lived there before the Europeans came. It also gives a great modern history, too.

[Natasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wrote a research paper with a lot of help from this book! A little dry at times, and finding the point of the digressions was a challenge. Could have been a little more specific, as in "X was an important site, as A, B and C were learned as a result of excavation."

[Corin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating book using archaeology as a tool to trace the city's history... from PaleoIndians to the 1990s, the history of NY is a microcosm of America. Easy for a layperson to understand, with plenty of stories and concepts to make it all the more enjoyable.