Archaeologist Dig Into The Past At Fairmount Park
By Paul Kurtz
A team of archaeologists is searching for pieces of Japanese history in Fairmount Park.
On top of a hill overlooking the Shofuso Japanese House and Garden, excavators are digging and sifting through dirt, searching for remnants of the Japanese Bazzare and garden that was a featured attraction at the 1876 Centennial Exposition. They began their investigation Thursday, and lead Archaeologist Doug Moony says they've already hit pay dirt.
"We have a whole series of broken pieces of ceramic, various vessels with beautiful little hand-painted Asian decorations on the outside of it," Moony says. "Some sort of bottle top, and this is one of the decorative roofing tiles that once roofed the bazaar building itself."
The site was discovered by Kim Andrews, Executive Director of the Friends of the Japanese House and Garden, which was installed in 1958.She says the original structures represented a coming of age for Japan.
"This was the first time they were telling the outside world what they were, so it represents kind of the hopes and dreams of a country that had just started interacting with the outside world," Andrews says.
The public is invited to watch the investigation all afternoon on Saturday.
