Friday afternoon the exposition ‘700.000 vondsten uit de Amstel’
(700.000 findings from the Amstel) was opened in the Allard Pierson
Museum in Amsterdam. The photo exposition with the subtitle The river as
a mirror of the city: archeology of the North/South Line, shows the
process of recovering, sorting and researching the many findings of the
bureau Monuments and archeology of the City of Amsterdam. During the
deep drilling of tunnels for the construction of the North/South Line
builders found among other things, pots, vases and animal remains. These
objects tell a story about the history of Amsterdam, when the river the
Amstel still flowed where the Rokin is situated today. Because
inhabitants of Amsterdam used the river to get rid of their litter for
centuries, the findings tell us something about the way of living and
working back to the twelfth century. Watch the 3D animation here that was made especially for the opening.
The Heritage Lab of the University of Amsterdam has started at the same time as the exposition. In the months to come an process will take place there to look at the opportunity to present the findings to the public, rather than store them away in a depot where they cannot be accessed easily. Benthem Crouwel, as architect of the North/South Line, is affiliated with the Heritage Lab and will contribute to the discussion. One of the ideas to present the findings is to keep them at the same place where they are found and to integrate them in the metro station Rokin for which the drilling was done in the first place.
