New Orleans has longstanding infrastructure problems that have needed repairs for years. New Orleans is also an old city with plenty of history. Much of that history lies hidden underground and more of it could potentially come to light as more construction projects take place. D. Ryan Gray, Professor of Anthropology and Associate Director of Midlo Center for New Orleans Studies specializes in urban historical archaeology in the city of New Orleans.
Gray has been working as an archaeologist in New Orleans since 1999 and says that, while many people think of archaeologists as people who dig up bones, there’s much more nuance to it. “Really, most archaeologists these days are as interested in how things are remembered as much as the physical part of excavation,” Gray emphasized.
Dr. Gray says that, while much has been written about the history of New Orleans, there’s always more to discover. “There’s so much we’ve learned already and so much we have to do in terms of learning more about the past of the city,” he adds, noting that since his tenure there have been several meaningful findings in the area.
“We’ve learned more about the indigenous presence in the city before Europeans arrived. We’ve learned much more about the lives of enslaved people in the city in the 18th century and first half of the 19th century. We have been able to study a small part of the St. Peter Street Cemetery, which is the city’s colonial-era cemetery that is now underneath a block in the French Quarter where there are still probably 8,000 people still buried. It’s been fully developed over now,” adds Gray.
He says there has also been limited study underneath the St. Louis Cathedral to get insight into the development of the building itself and the different iterations of the church itself. “That just scratches the surface and there’s much more to be done,” Gray went on to note.
During past projects in the French Quarter, Gray says archaeologists were consulted and required to be part of the staff onsite by the New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board due to federal funds being involved. However, the mandate of the Vieux Carre Commission and all the regulations have to do with only what is above ground, not what lies below the ground. “We count on interested property owners who care about the past to reach out to us if they’re doing some sort of project,” Dr. Gray emphasizes, noting that there is no arm of the Vieux Carre Commission that deals with archeological interests.