New York at Its Core: The Archaeology

Manhattan’s dramatic growth over the centuries is often pictured as a process of expansion, either northwards (up the island) or upwards (with ever taller skyscrapers). 

But since the 17th century, the island has also been expanding outwards into the East and Hudson Rivers through landfill. Garbage and rubble have long been used to create hundreds of acres of new, artificial land along Manhattan’s coastline. Once overlooked, this landfill has increasingly been seen by archaeologists as a rich source of information about the city’s past. 

Join a panel of leading archaeologists as they share their latest subterranean findings from Manhattan’s shorelines and explore what they reveal about the lives of previous generations of New Yorkers.