Picking Up the Pieces: An Analysis of the Bottles from the Former Blockley Almshouse Cemetery Site, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "“We the People”: Historical Cemetery Archaeology in Philadelphia" , at the 2022 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Artifacts from places of confinement, excavated by archaeologists from institutions occupied long ago, provide unique insights into the people who lived, worked, and died there. Between 1835 and 1905, the Blockley Almshouse in Philadelphia housed the sick poor, mentally ill, unwed mothers, and children. In 2001, archaeologists excavated the site of the former Blockley Almshouse Cemetery in West Philadelphia prior to construction of a parking garage. Along with the human remains that they uncovered, the archaeologists collected hundreds of artifacts including various types of bottles and ceramic wares, buttons, tobacco pipe stems and bowls, medical waste, personal items, and coffin nails. Analysis of the bottles confirmed the dates, as well as the nature, of cemetery usage. This paper describes the domestic and international origins of the marked bottles, their types, and contents, focusing on those that reflect the medical practices at the Almshouse.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• “We the People”: Historical Cemetery Archaeology in Philadelphia   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2022

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology