One of the many fun things about America archaeology is that it is continually seeking new areas to explore and new sub-disciplines to cultivate. Urban archaeology is one of the newer disciplines that is attracting many scholars and much fieldwork. It is helped along by government rules that require archaeological investigations in advance of major new developments, and it is now paying huge dividends by gleaning new information from urban sites.
Two of the nation’s leading urban archaeologists, Nan Rothschild of Barnard College, Columbia University, and Diana diZerega Wall of the City College of New York, have produced this fine synthesis of the developing field. Beginning with an introductory survey of the development of American cities, a process much different from that of European cities, the authors trace the advancement of urban archaeology. They focus on case studies in New York, Philadelphia, Tucson, Oakland, and many other cities to highlight various aspects of the emerging field.
Archaeology is the study of the material culture of an area, but urban archaeology requires a much broader scope of study that can involve such diverse factors as race, class, and gender. The result is a much better understanding of America’s cities as they develop over time and of the people who live in them. The authors find that the city itself becomes an artifact defined through its landscape, planning, and infrastructure. This in turn leads to new insights regarding many aspects of urban life including commerce and manufacturing as well as social structure. American cities are composed of various groups of immigrants that evolve over time, and archaeology can tell us much about those groups and their impact on the whole.
