2:00 to 2:20 PM - Investigations in Chicago’s Chinatown. Scott J. Demel (The Field Museum)

In the fall of 2004 the Chinatown Museum Foundation offered the lot adjacent to the new museum as an archaeological teaching ground for local grade school students and community members. The lot, which was slated to become a new parking lot, was still at the original 19th century street level, over three feet below the modern 23rd Street. A shovel probe survey of a portion of this lot yielded abundant deposits and artifacts ranging as far back as the late 19th century, well before the establishment of this neighborhood in 1911 as the new Chicago Chinatown. Ash lenses were present, and preservation of faunal remains was excellent. Days before the threat of construction of a parking lot in late December, a single unit was excavated revealing ash pit features. Included in the fill were butchered bone, fish scales, ceramics, beads, and other household goods. The temporary postponement of the parking lot will allow archaeologists and the Chinese community to continue to investigate the early occupation of this neighborhood. This excavation represents a hands-on connection between the ancestors of this community and the young Chinese students helping in this project, forming a stronger bond between Chinatown’s past and present.