Onder de Amstel

De grote beeldatlas SPUL/STUFF, met 15.000 voorwerpen die tijdens de aanleg van de Noord-Zuidlijn waren gevonden, werd uitverkoren tot mooiste boek ter wereld en was binnen no time nergens meer te krijgen. Het is inmiddels een collector’s item. In vervolg hierop verschijnt nu Onder de Amstel. Hierin begeven 31 auteurs – variërend van historici, archeologen en materiaaldeskundigen tot journalisten, conservatoren en onderzoekers – zich op een historisch-archeologische speurtocht die heeft geresulteerd in 107 verhalen, ieder gebaseerd op een specifieke vondst of functionele groep vondsten. Het resultaat is een rijkgeschakeerde bloemlezing van de vele verhalen die in de bodemvondsten van de Noord/Zuidlijn Amsterdam verborgen liggen. The construction of a new metro line through the heart of Amsterdam in 2003-2018 – the North/South Line – gave us access to a unique archaeological site: the riverbed of the Amstel. Almost 700,000 archaeological finds were made there, all of which are linked with the history of Amsterdam between 1300 and 2000. In 2018, a photographic catalogue of 13,000 finds entitled Stuff was published, telling the visual story of the objects and materials that have been used in Amsterdam over the centuries. This book is a follow-up to Stuff, and adds a narrative element to a selection of those archaeological discoveries. These remains are tangible and they reveal something of the day-to-day reality of the past. In combination with historical accounts and images, they sometimes lead us to actual historical events, buildings and institutions – and on occasion even to specific individuals who lived in Amsterdam in the past. In Hidden under the Amstel, 31 authors – historians, archaeologists, materials experts, journalists, curators and researchers – embark on a historical and archaeological quest that has resulted in 107 different stories, each based on a specific find or group of finds. The result is a richly varied anthology of the many stories behind the archaeological discoveries made during the excavation of the North/South Line.