Buttons, Bones, and the Organ-Grinder's Monkey

Tales of Historical Archaeology

by Meg Greene

Some historical events have never been completely explained or understood. Some have become solidified as stories told without everything being taken into account. Others have been interpreted from the point of view of the major players. Many are still, to some degree, mysteries waiting to be solved.

Historical archaeology is one way to answer the puzzles posed by such events, and that is what Buttons, Bones is about. This book follows contemporary archaeologists to take a close look at five cases of discovery: the excavation of the French explorer La Salle’s ship Belle off the coast of Texas; the reconstruction of life in the Jamestown settlement through its original fort; the Battle of the Little Bighorn, where Sioux accounts were at odds with the U.S. Army explanation; the excavation of the slave quarters in Jefferson’s Monticello; and the diggings in Foley Courthouse Square, a New York City immigrant neighborhood over a hundred years ago.

How the archaeologists approached their objectives, and what they made of what they found in the dirt, will fascinate kids. This is mystery-solving at its best, yielding the kind of knowledge about what people actually did, not found in textbooks.

And the organ grinder’s monkey? Read and find out.

About the Author

Meg Greene holds two master’s degrees, in history and in historic preservation. She writes regularly for Cobblestone magazine and works as an architectural surveyor and historian as well.