Scott Jordan is always searching for new digs. Construction sites. Backyards. Nineteenth-century landfills. Any place where the 54-year-old urban archaeologist might unearth bits and pieces of New York's past.

“History can come alive when you touch it,” said Mr. Jordan.

What began as a hobby on Governors Island, where Mr. Jordan grew up as the son of a military man, has evolved into an obsession. Look no further than his two-bedroom in Astoria, Queens. It holds some 50,000 artifacts—from multicolored bottles to buttons fashioned out of bone. He even has a pistol from the Revolutionary War.

To support himself, Mr. Jordan makes mosaics and earrings out of pottery shards, coins, pieces of porcelain dolls. He sells his work at the GreenFlea Market on West 77th Street and Columbus Avenue most Sundays. This spring and summer, he will be at St. Anthony's church on Sullivan and West Houston streets on Fridays and Saturdays.

When he's not donning a top hat and selling his artifacts, Mr. Jordan can often be found at the bottom of an old cistern or privy. “It keeps that little kid in you alive,” he said.

Scott Jordan's apartment contains 50,000
artifacts from the city's past.
Photo by Buck Ennis.