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Students learning about archeology at the Independence Living History Center

Try our new Independence National Historical Park Cell Phone Audio Tour! Call 267-519-4295, press Prompt #27 for Independence Living History Center and Independence Park Institute information. Read the press release and flyer with stops and other park sites.

Welcome to the Independence Living History Center Archeology Laboratory. The laboratory is a working facility dedicated to processing materials recovered from archeological excavations conducted between 2000 and 2003 at the site of the National Constitution Center.  The almost one million artifacts recovered from this archeological excavation tell the diverse stories of everyday Philadelphians during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Archeologists study each and every artifact found at the dig, from small seeds and animal bone to glass bottles and ceramic fragments, and use these clues to answer questions about life in the past. The laboratory presents a behind-the-scenes view of the work conducted by archeologists and invites the public to observe as Philadelphia’s buried history is revealed piece by piece. 

The Independence Living History Center is located at 143 South Third Street (Directly across from the First Bank of the United States), and the Archeology Laboratory is open to visitors Monday through Friday 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM and Saturdays 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM. 

Sealed beneath the surface of Philadelphia's modern cityscape are remnants of the city's past. For more information on archeology in Independence National Historical Park click here.