>Emily:
>        I'm an upstater and know little about the city and fearing way too much
>ignorance on the subject I'll stick to pitching in my 2 cents from an angle
>I understand.
>        I'm an historian and archaeologist and althrough I've never worked
>in the
>city (been there once, though) I know there are numerous reports on
>inner-city excavations wherein really great neighborhood histories have
>been written.  It is standard proceedure in studying and reporting a
>particular site to put it into a series of contexts at the neighborhood,
>city-wide, and larger levels (ie how does the site fit into the various
>systems of interaction).  Since identification of local resources, focal
>points, and activity areas are important the histories can often be quite
>detailed.  Perhaps there was an excavation done in the vicinity in which
>you would find descriptions of the neighborhood and some of the imortant
>places.
>
>Dan W.


DAN:

Thanks. There is a community board for Union Square which would know about
such digs. Will call them tomorrow. Let you know if I have any luck

Emily