Silver Earbob

From the early 1650s until 1974, both free and enslaved Africans were buried in a 6.6 acre burial ground in Lower Manhattan located outside the settlement of New York's boundaries. Lost to history over 200 years due to landfill and development, the burial ground was rediscovered in 1991. The unearthed skeletal remains revealed funerary objects placed in caskets honoring the dead and respecting African traditions. The silver pendant found in burial 254 lying near the mandible of a child may have been worn as an earrring.