New York has been built, altered, redeveloped, destroyed, reimagined, and rebuilt for centuries. When new construction projects require digging, literally, into the city’s past, urban archeologists are presented with the challenging problems of reconstructing from limited data, a picture of the material culture of the past and of the social forces that drive urban development.
At the forefront of this academic discipline, Professors Nan Rothschild and Diana Wallintroduce their fascinating field of research to a broad readership. Focusing on case studies of work undertaken in New York, Philadelphia, Tucson, West Oakland, The Archaeology of American Cities uses the material culture of former centuries to highlight recurring themes that reflect distinctive characteristics of urban life in the United States.
Nan A. Rothschild, director of the Museum Studies Program and professor of anthropology at Barnard College, Columbia University, is the author of three books, including New York City Neighborhoods: The 18th Century.
Diana diZerega Wall, professor of anthropology at the City College of the City University of New York, is the author of The Archaeology of Genderand the coauthor of Unearthing Gotham.
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