From the Ground Up: Archaeology, Artisans, Everyday Life

Curated and produced by
AECOM’s Cultural Resources Department Burlington, New Jersey

On view until December 31, 2016 at the
Museum of American Glass at Wheaton Arts and Cultural Center in Millville, New Jersey

For almost 10 years, archaeologists from AECOM’s Cultural Resources Department in Burlington, New Jersey, have been working on behalf of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration to recover and preserve local buried history in advance of the Interstate 95/Girard Avenue Improvement Project along the Delaware River north of Center City Philadelphia. From the Ground Up features over 600 artifacts chosen from approximately 1,000,000 artifacts recovered during the ongoing archaeological excavations. Spanning almost 5,000 years of history, AECOM’s exhibition emphasizes how Native Americans and, later, nineteenth-century glassblowers and potters creatively used the region’s natural resources and established a sense of place. The show particularly highlights the archaeological excavations at Dyottville Glass Works and the history of the glass industry that once thrived in the Kensington-Fishtown neighborhood. Gallery videos and live demonstrations at WheatonArts’ glass and ceramics studios allow visitors to learn firsthand about the artisans’ materials and techniques. Additional artifacts on display date from the late eighteenth to early twentieth century and tell how families living along the waterfront prepared and served their food, lit their homes, cared for the sick, fed their children, and addressed personal and social issues that are still relevant today.

From The Ground Up – The Team