Metal Figurine Excavated in Anacostia

After 1867

In the early 1980s, archaeologists excavated land along Howard Road, SE before construction began on the Anacostia Metro Station in southeast Washington, D.C. Objects unearthed in the excavation revealed nearly 10,000 years of human settlement in the area. Their discoveries included a metal figure, possibly used for outdoor décor. Pegs under the elfin man’s shoes could be secured to a gate, for instance. His outstretched hands appear to wrap around an object, now absent. A potential indoor role for the bearded gnome could be to heft a holder for matches, cigars, pipes, or toothpicks, feet affixed to a base. The figurine likely dates to the neighborhood’s most prosperous period, 1880-1920.