Urban Archaeology along I-95 in Downtown Pennsylvania
AECOM is currently supporting the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s rebuild of Interstate 95 at the Girard Avenue Interchange (https://95revive.com/project-sectors/sector-a/gir-girard-avenue-interchange/gir-overview/), conducting multi-year Phase IB through Phase III archaeological investigations guided by a Programmatic Agreement along a three-mile-long segment of I-95 in Philadelphia that includes the Northern Liberties, Kensington-Fishtown, and Port Richmond neighborhoods. This project area traverses portions of the city’s historic Delaware River waterfront and crosses some of its oldest neighborhoods.
To date, data recovery investigations have documented 15 individual historic sites, including portions of the former Aramingo Canal, the Dyottville Glass Works industrial complex, and multiple blocks of mixed residential/commercial development from the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries yielding over 3 million artifacts. Investigations have also discovered 10 intact Native American occupations, with the earliest site yielding a radiocarbon date of 3563 BC. The artifacts constitute the largest assemblage of Pre-contact materials found in Philadelphia and is inspiring renewed interested in and appreciation of Delaware Indian cultural heritage by stakeholders.
To share the findings with a wider audience, AECOM developed an innovative, all-digital, and internet-based report format as the primary means for documenting archaeological data generated by the investigations – The Digging I-95 interactive report (www.diggingi95.com). AECOM has also frequently held public outreaches displaying the excavated artifacts at neighborhood centers and events as well as producing exhibits for two area museums and operating the I-95 Archaeology Center, an on-site museum and active archaeological laboratory. The project also includes its own free professional journal – River Chronicles – which is available in print and digital formats.
Aramingo Canal
Museum Display
Field Crew
Dyottville Foundations
Public Outreach
Moon Man