Source: Philadelphia Inquirer
Date: October 10, 2007
Byline: Stephan Salisbury

Post-dig pace to quicken

The National Constitution Center and Independence National Historical Park are close to a new agreement to complete the archaeological work precipitated by excavation on the center's building site more than six years ago.

Widely viewed as the most significant dig in Philadelphia's history, excavation of the center's Independence Mall site in 2000 and 2001 yielded a million artifacts and exposed a largely pristine pre-19th-century neighborhood, including an unusual concentration of households composed of free black families.

Completion of the post-dig work, required under the Historic Preservation Act of 1966, has moved at a glacial pace, largely because of funding difficulties. An initial agreement expired, unfulfilled, in 2005.

The park and the center, though, have now pledged to complete the project and raise the necessary money, estimated conservatively at between $4 million and $5 million.

What is at stake is analysis and preservation of what many archaeologists view as an unprecedented excavation, one that unearthed significant findings related to the early history of African Americans, Quakers, immigrant groups and even American Indians.

Several residents of the block were members of the Free African Society, the first black self-help organization in the New World. It is on this block that founders of St. Thomas' African Episcopal Church, the city's first black church, met to plan their enterprise. Betsy Ross lived for a time on the block, as did James Dexter, an early black leader, and Benjamin Smith Barton, the botanist who taught Merriwether Lewis about plants.

When the site was excavated, a wealth of well-preserved material was uncovered — leather shoes, children's toys, teacups and tableware, legible newspaper pages, pumps from the city's first water system — the list goes on and on.

Because of the use of federal land — the Constitution Center is constructed on the northernmost block of Independence Mall, between Arch, Race, Fifth and Sixth Streets — law requires the center to fund and implement a program aimed at preserving the archaeological resources uncovered prior to construction.

And the park service, as the presiding agency, is supposed to ensure that the archaeological work is completed in a timely and satisfactory manner.

But the archaeology has languished or proceeded at a snail's pace over the years.

This summer, the Philadelphia Archaeological Forum, a professional association, wrote a letter to the Federal Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, inquiring about the progress of the post-dig work. The advisory council is charged with overseeing such mandated archaeological activities.

"We've been watching what's happening over the years — a collection that is not being worked on at a very rapid pace to the point that the NCC and the park service have really reneged on their agreement," said Anthony J. Ranere, professor of anthropology at Temple University and vice president of the archaeological forum.

The letter to the federal council noted that "the rich archaeological resources represented by the excavations promise to tell a nationally significant story that will deepen our understanding of who we are as a people."

The advisory council urged the park service to execute a new "programmatic agreement" with the Constitution Center and to include outside groups in the ongoing review of the work.

The park service and NCC now say this is what they are working on. The new agreement, which is in final draft form, according to officials, will cover six years of work. Park officials said a $4.8 million six-year budget for the work is included in the draft agreement, including $640,000 from the Constitution Center for fiscal 2008 and 2009. That money would initially come from Constitution Center capital funds.

Joseph M. Torsella, head of the center, said his institution is committed to completing the project and raising the necessary additional money.

"What's different now is that the Constitution Center is more established," Torsella said, in affirming the NCC's commitment. He also noted that Independence Park had set up the Independence Living History Center public archaeology lab in 2005 in the old park visitor's center at Third and Chestnut Streets. Most of the million artifacts are now stored there. A volunteer program is up and running for washing, labeling and mending artifacts, and the park service has hired two archaeologists for the project.

"There was a time when it was difficult to make things happen," Torsella said. "I think this is different."

Darla Sidles, acting superintendent of Independence Park, said the park service and NCC would share costs and that the new agreement calls for twice-yearly meetings "so everybody knows what's going on and we're all held accountable."

One reason the work has languished has been a lack of transparency in the process, said Ranere, the archaeological forum representative. Bringing outside groups, such as his, into the process might prod officials into doing "the right thing."

There is also concern, he said, that budget numbers are written into the agreement. What happens, he wondered, if the numbers prove inadequate?

Torsella said that "we'll figure out a way with the park service to get the job done."

Dennis Reidenbach, former Independence Park superintendent who is now the park service's Northeast Region director, said the numbers in the new agreement were for "planning purposes." He called it "merely a proposed six-year budget."

"We're confident in entering this programmatic agreement that it puts together a framework . . . to have this project completed."

Watch the Work

The public archaeology lab at the Independence Living History Center, at Third and Chestnut Streets. is open to visitors Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The lab is closed Sundays. However, during the month of October it is open seven days a week.