# Below the surface

By [Brandon Donnelly](https://paragraph.com/@brandondonnelly), 2018-07-02

amstel-river, amsterdam, amsterdan, archaeology, cities, city-builder, city-center, city-centre, city-geek, construction, damrak, discovery, excavation, history, metro, north-south-metro-line, riverbed, rokin, subway, trading-port, transit, uncategorized, urban-history, urbanism

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![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/29e9373a2558d3a051ce9f473b9b4c66.png)

Later this month the new 9.7 km [North-South metro line in Amsterdam](https://www.iamexpat.nl/expat-info/dutch-expat-news/amsterdams-north-south-metro-line-finished) will start service. Like most large scale infrastructure projects, its opening has been delayed many times. 8 times according to [this source](https://www.iamexpat.nl/expat-info/dutch-expat-news/amsterdams-north-south-metro-line-finished). But this post is not about that. It’s about a byproduct of the line’s construction. 

The excavations required for the line meant that two sections of the Amstel River – namely the Damrak and Rokin sites – had to be drained. This took place from 2003 to 2012 and gave archaeologists unprecedented access to the bottom of a river in the middle of a historic city center.

Amsterdam started as a small trading port along the banks of the Amstel River some 800 years ago. So not surprisingly, they found a few things. Over 17,000 objects were found and all of them have been catalogued online according to time period, use, material, and location found.

For the full catalogue of objects, [click here](https://belowthesurface.amsterdam/en/vondsten). Screenshot of the catalogue shown above. And to learn more about the entire project, [start here](https://belowthesurface.amsterdam/en/pagina/de-opgravingen-0). There’s a lot of good stuff in there for city nerds.

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*Originally published on [Brandon Donnelly](https://paragraph.com/@brandondonnelly/below-the-surface)*