Another Pint! Beer & Soda Bottles in Victorian Philadelphia: A Spatial Analysis

Summary

Beer and Soda, typical beverages found in the lives of Victorian American’s; the remnants of their proliferate use, a plethora of bottles found at historic archaeological sites across the county. While often overlooked, these bottles, offer the potential to illuminate the landscape of small businesses, domestic residences, and the booming Industrial Revolution. Recent excavations by AECOM, sponsored by PennDOT, within the I-95 corridor of the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia have unearthed several 19th century glass works, domestic dwellings, and small businesses, along with thousands of beer and soda bottles. This poster analyzes the spatial relationship of these artifacts to each other, their place of manufacture, and point of distribution using R and GIS; resulting in a visualization of the radius of distribution to local bars, taverns, and residences. Through this analysis we present a broader picture of material culture in 19th century Philadelphia, offer conclusions on the patterns presented, and the potential to tighten critical date ranges for archaeological collections.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage