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Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <[email protected]> > Date: September 24, 2020 at 10:14:36 AM EDT > To: [email protected] > Cc: H-Net Staff <[email protected]> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-War]: Zonderman on Yamin, 'Archaeology at the Site > of the Museum of the American Revolution: A Tale of Two Taverns and the > Growth of Philadelphia' > Reply-To: [email protected] > > Rebecca Yamin. Archaeology at the Site of the Museum of the American > Revolution: A Tale of Two Taverns and the Growth of Philadelphia. > Philadelphia Temple University Press, 2018. Illustrations. 160 pp. > $19.95 (paper), ISBN 978-1-4399-1642-1. > > Reviewed by David Zonderman (North Carolina State University) > Published on H-War (September, 2020) > Commissioned by Margaret Sankey > > As the Museum of the American Revolution was being constructed, in > the summer of 2014, an archaeological excavation of the site in > downtown Philadelphia also took place. This work was mandated by > federal law, and it would have been tragically ironic if an > institution designed to present cutting-edge interpretations of > America's War of Independence was built literally on a foundation > that obliterated pieces of the city's history. Rebecca Yamin's > account of this excavation and its material findings is an accessible > and richly illustrated guide to what urban archaeology can tell > readers about the history of one of America's great cities. > > Yamin explores how this one project uncovers layers of Philadelphia > history that extend from its colonial roots in the seventeenth > century all the way to its redevelopment in the late twentieth > century. There are shattered plates and mugs that indicate several > taverns from the revolutionary period; and Yamin takes time to > explain the crucial role that such places played in urban politics > during the late eighteenth century. But the history on this site also > expands far beyond what is now being told in the new museum that sits > at the corner of Chestnut and Third Streets. Through a broad sampling > of material remains, Yamin tells the story of a city block as it > evolved from a collection of small houses into commercial and craft > shops then on to manufacturing sites devoted to tanning, button > making, printing, and eventually patent medicine in one of the city's > first skyscrapers: the Jayne Building. > > This concise book also gives readers a glimpse into the methods of > urban archaeology--including a deep dive into privies and "night > soil" that yields all kinds of insights into daily life and diet, and > the particular importance of ceramics and industrial refuse at this > site. Some of the artifacts unearthed can be dated to the > revolutionary era, and they are now in the new museum's collections > and exhibits. Many other objects come from before and after that time > period and offer glimpses into the changing economy of Philadelphia > across four centuries. Yamin blends discussions of artifacts > uncovered in the dig--especially a multitude of ceramics, glass > bottles, typeface, buttons, and pipe stems--with documents available > in Philadelphia's many archives to help reconstruct those patterns of > urban change and the impact of such transformations on "common folk" > even down to individual residents who populated long-forgotten > alleyways on the block where the museum now stands. In fact, the > documentary records even more than the archaeological material help > to sketch out the presence of enslaved men and women blocks away from > the "cradle of liberty." > > The book contains a plethora of color photographs of many > archaeological finds, as well as numerous historical and contemporary > maps of the site and surrounding neighborhoods. There are also > various color-coded pages where Yamin offers intriguing sidebars on > material culture analysis and intimate portraits of various > personalities who called this locale their home and/or place of > business. All of this apparatus makes for a lively presentation, but > any attempt at an overarching narrative or analytical arguments often > gets broken up in all these digressions. > > By blending meticulous archaeological analysis with dogged archival > research, Yamin offers a micro-historical study of this one city > block that adds to our understanding of Philadelphia's social and > economic history at the time of the American Revolution. But this > book also extends far beyond that one time period, even as it says > little about the impact of the Revolution itself in any military > manner. It will be up to the museum to help tell that story of the > fight for independence, but the ground on which the museum stands has > yielded many more historical accounts of an ever-changing American > city. > > Citation: David Zonderman. Review of Yamin, Rebecca, _Archaeology at > the Site of the Museum of the American Revolution: A Tale of Two > Taverns and the Growth of Philadelphia_. H-War, H-Net Reviews. > September, 2020. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=53791 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. 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