When people think of archaeology, they’re often drawn to the ancient civilizations of Greece, Rome, Pompeii, the Great Pyramids of Egypt, or the Mayan and Inca civilizations of Central and South America. While these civilizations provide impressive looks into ancient past, New Jersey residents don’t have to go far to discover America’s impressive and fascinating history.

I recently spoke to a group students and local residents at The Hudson School in Hoboken, on the state’s long and exciting past—dating from its first Native American inhabitants who occupied the area thousands of years ago, to the area’s first Dutch settlers in the early 1600s.

Understanding Our Ancestors

New Jersey is home to thousands of archaeological sites from Native American habitations and 17th to 19th century farmsteads and urban houses, to revolutionary war battlefields, and impressive canals and railroads. Each site contained human-made objects, expressing the beliefs of the individuals who commissioned, fabricated, purchased, or used them, and by extension, the beliefs of the larger society to which these individuals belonged.

In particular, two intact stone-lined privies—which we know as “outhouses”—at the Peace Tavern, Woodruff House site, located in Rahway, contained thousands of 18th and 19th century artifacts and well-preserved organic materials associated with changing occupations. I found the most intriguing to be the chronological variation between the two privies in relation to the change in socioeconomic lifestyles—from more utilitarian objects to domestic household materials and pharmaceutical bottles.

The study of these privies and the artifacts found inside their vaults links archaeological record to the people, culture, and society that created it. Analysis demonstrates historical changes in race, class, gender, diet, spatial organization, personal hygiene, and other social characteristics of the site’s occupants through comparison of their contents. These materials underscore the significance of the site and its potential to contribute to the study of 18th and 19th century-changing economic and social lifestyles in central New Jersey, as well as the mid-Atlantic states.

Through the study of artifacts found at these sites and others, we can better understand America’s past cultures and societies.