Broken Glass Bottle 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 household objects, like this broken bottle. At the bottom, the clear glass is ringed with raised glass bands, in between which are small ovals. The pattern repeats above, though most is missing. It likely dates to the neighborhood’s most prosperous period, 1880-1920.