I have been digging for New York's artifacts since 1969. My first dig was on Governor's Island, which was my father's duty station, and I stumbled upon a time capsule of New York's military history in the moat of old Fort Jay. In the dirt under the old drawbridge were relics dating from the War of 1812 all the way to the Civil War including buttons, musket balls and bullets, coins, pottery, and even a small cannon ball.

In 1976, I moved to Manhattan and attended the High School of Art & Design at 57th Street and 2nd Avenue and began looking for historic artifacts in the urban canyons of
New York. During the late 1970s, there were massive construction sites where pieces of New York's past were being destroyed by the dumptruck load. In trying to save as much as I could, I explored the old 17th and 18th Century landfill areas in South Street Seaport and the 19th Century landfill that was to be the future site of the Jacob Javits Convention Center.


After a decade of working in various traditional jobs, in 1987, I decided to become a fulltime street artist selling New York artifact art. My first pieces were collages made from excavated finds including pottery shards, doll's heads, watches, coins, keys, food bones, oyster and clam shells, and bottles. It is wonderful today, some 20 years later, when people stumble upon me selling my artifact art and recognize me and my art.

Since my first foray onto the street, my artifact artwork has expanded from simple collages to a wide variety of collages displaying anywhere from one to hundreds of historic objects, painted historic bottles, shard pendants and wearable art, and fine art (ranging from still lifes of recoveries to primitive scenes of old New York). Today, I recover artifacts for my artwork from landfills, construction sites, and home renovations in all five boroughs as well as various locations in the surrounding New York metropolitan area, with the help of a retired fireman and a few other history-obsessed friends. Our main focus is digging out cisterns and privy wells to retrieve their contents before they are destroyed.



In addition, I do pottery reconstruction and restoration of salvaged 18th and 19th Century broken plates, bowls, tea cups, crocks, and jugs both for my personal collection and to sell to the site developers (for displays or their own personal use) and to homeowners (so they can display artifacts from the prior occupants of their home). This is a creative outlet for me as I get to bring history to life by restoring broken vessels that were last complete a hundred or three hundred years ago.

Every Sunday, year round, I am a vendor of old bottles at the Green Flea Market on Columbus Avenue and 76th Street. Please come by and visit me if you are interested in old bottles from New York or my artifact art. You will be able to find me in the crowd, as I wear an old top hat when I sell to help people remember the past.

Outside of selling, during the week, I spend most of my time seeking out sites where I can save bottles and artifacts from destruction. I also am currently working with a publisher who is in the process of writing a book about my life digging up New York's past which will feature hundreds of photos of my artifact art, paintings, bottles, restored pottery, and other relics.

Scott Jordan