What Lies Beneath

A new metro line in Amsterdam provided a perfect opportunity for archaeologists to uncover decades of social history. For about 9 years the banks of the river Amstel have been excavated for a new urban waterway. Having to pump out so much water revealed layers and layers of objects and everyday life. 

In my little local river, the River Fowey in Lostwithiel, we often find little bits of broken pottery, but I am truly amazed about the wealth of artefacts found. The Department of Archaeology have created an interactive website where you can delve a little deeper into what each object represents. Beautifully and orderly laid out, these collections are a revealing snapshot of this busy waterway's past. 

The website allows us to access 19,000 of the 700,000 findings from the site. Named 'Below the Surface', you can see everything from buttons, tickets, pottery and books. Included are a 19th-century pipe cover decorated by a portrait of the Dutch navel lieutenant Jan Carel Josephus van Speijk, and a 16th-century belt which bears the inscription: “Ik bin en ieger nu ik hebbe dat mi behaget” (“I am a hunter and I now have what delights me”). Fascinating stuff!

Groups of objects always have a form of beauty to me, it does make me think if our current history was excavated, would it be all plastic bottles? I hope we leave just as interesting traces behind, but hopefully not as harmful as the plastic we currently deposit in our droves. 

Originally found at This is Colossal.