“Urban histories can be told in a thousand ways. The archaeological research project of the North/South metro line lends the River Amstel a voice in the historical portrayal of Amsterdam. The Amstel was once the vital artery, the central axis, of the city. Along the banks of the Amstel, at its mouth in the IJ, a small trading port originated about 800 years ago. At Damrak and Rokin in the city center, archaeologists had a chance to physically access the riverbed, thanks to the excavations for the massive infrastructure project of the North/South metro line between 2003 and 2012”.
Bellow the surface website presents the scope and methods of this research project, detailing the data processing and of approximately 700,000 finds. The website provides access to the photographs of more than 19,000 finds. The access to the complete dataset hasn’t been released yet, but a disclaimer note informs it will be shortly available.
In the main user interface (the object overview page), thumbnails of all 18.978 objects are arranged by estimated time of creation (period varies from 2005 AC to 119.000 BC). Users can scroll vertically along time with a mouse. A panel of facets filters the objects according to time range, object function (communication & exchange, personal artifacts & clothing, etc.), material (metal, synthetics, etc.) and location (Damrak or Rokin metro stations). The time range facet has an interesting feature: it is also a visual variable that shows patterns of distribution at a glance. The other facets indicate the objects occurrence through absolute numbers. Facets don’t require a preceding search and enable refinement (selecting an option of a facet changes the options occurrence in the other facets.
Selecting a thumbnail of an object reveals detailed information about it (close viewing). A bigger photography t is shown followed by detailed information about the object properties.
This research was conducted by the Department of Archaeology, Monuments and Archaeology (MenA), City of Amsterdam, in cooperation with the Chief Technology Office (CTO), City of Amsterdam.