PANYC: The Why, The Then, And The Now

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Advocacy in Archaeology: Thoughts from the Urban Frontier" , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Forty years ago, seventeen New York City archaeologists met on a cold Saturday afternoon in an unheated New York University classroom to form a new organization. The organizers were three local archaeology professors and the participants included their graduate students (I among them) and archaeological professionals. That day, Professional Archaeologist of New York City, or PANYC (this perfect acronym actually came first) was born. Seven years earlier, NYC had implemented an Executive Order that required environmental review on city projects under certain circumstances. It was the 17th-century Stadt Huys Block in Lower Manhattan that proved archaeology was among the city’s environmental issues—and PANYC was to make sure these issues were properly addressed. Much has changed since that first meeting, but the law is still in effect and PANYC still functions. This paper focuses on the evolution of PANYC and New York City archaeology.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Advocacy in Archaeology: Thoughts from the Urban Frontier   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2020

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 850