The West Philadelphia community members joined forces with Penn faculty members and students over the last four months to carefully dig below the surface and see what artifacts they could unearth, writes Nate File for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Now the dig has been completed, participants are sorting through the uncovered items to see what they found.

The Heritage West Community Archaeology Project aims to learn more about the Black Bottom neighborhood. The predominantly Black, vibrant section of West Philly throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries was cleared away to build University City.

The project is a joint operation between the University of Pennsylvania, Penn Museum, and several local community organizations.

Participants recovered various items, from bottles and bricks to bones and more, proving there was a vibrant neighborhood there before being bulldozed.

“So many people had lived there, been part of the area, been part of the community, and for it to be torn down and thrown away and then covered up as if it did not even exist was something that was a little bit spellbinding,” said Darnell Holmes, an educator and consultant paleontologist at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel.

Read more about the Heritage West Community Archaeology Project at The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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