In addition to the individual people and households that archaeologists study, the entire city can be seen as one large archaeological site. Most excavations in Washington were conducted prior to construction of a building, highway, or other venture. Individually, these excavations tell us about the lives of ordinary people, from Native Americans to early European settlers to the growing population of the new capital. Together, these sites tell us how the city as a whole developed from an idea to a cosmopolitan capital city.

The landscape of Washington today bears little resemblance to the lay of the land when L’Enfant first developed his plan for the capital city. Since its founding, Washington has seen extensive changes to its landscape: hills were cut down, streams were diverted and buried, canals were dug then later filled in, and the continual march of construction moved beyond the original bounds of L’Enfant’s design (Boundary Street is now Florida Avenue) to the edges of the diamond-shaped District of Columbia.

People often are surprised that artifacts and archaeological sites still exist beneath a modern city. But wells, cisterns, sewer pipes, house foundations, former backlots, and old streetcar lines can all be found preserved here

Each time archaeologists have a chance to excavate in downtown Washington, we learn more about these changes, how people responded to them, and the lives they led. Each discovery tells us more about our nation, our capital city, and ourselves.