Method over Madness: A Practical Approach to Colonial-Period Archaeology in Urban St. Louis

Summary

The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) has been conducting archaeological excavations in the City of St. Louis almost continuously since 2004. Up until 2012, this work concentrated on properties dating from the mid-nineteenth through early-twentieth centuries. MoDOT’s field methodologies drew largely on previous work in Oakland, Boston, New York, and other urban centers, with minor alterations to accommodate the idiosyncrasies of the modern St. Louis landscape. Since 2013, however, research has focused on identification and excavation of more significant and ephemeral features and deposits relating to the eighteenth-century occupation of the city. This shift in research focus generated new methodological questions and issues. Modified field methods were developed and refined during the excavation of six French colonial-period buildings. These methods have been proven highly successful in locating, evaluating, and excavating ephemeral features in downtown St. Louis and should be applicable to similar investigations in other urbanized settings.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Archaeology And The Urban Landscape   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2018

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 106