Thursday, July 15, 2010

18th century wooden ship discovered buried at World Trade Center site.

This sounds like the work of Jacob. From Daily Mail:
The remains of a ship dating back to the 18th century have been uncovered by workers close to the the old World Trade Centre site in lower Manhattan.

Archaeologists said the 32ft-long vessel was probably used along with other debris to fill in land to extend New York City into the Hudson River.

Those who examined the find described it as 'significant'.

An anchor weighing seven stone was also discovered at the site, although investigators said it was unclear whether it belonged to the newly-unearthed ship.

Archaeologists Molly McDonald and A. Michael Pappalardo examined the ship when it was found by staff about 30ft below street level in a planned underground vehicle security centre.
Ms McDonald said: 'We noticed curved timbers that a backhoe [mechanical digger] brought up.

'We quickly found the rib of a vessel and continued to clear it away and expose the hull over the last two days.'

The two archaeologists work for AKRF, a firm hired to document artefacts discovered at the site.

They called Tuesday's find significant but said more study was needed to determine the age of the ship.

'We're going to send timber samples to a laboratory to do dendochronology that will help us to get a sense of when the boat was constructed,' said McDonald.

A boat specialist was due at the site today to further investigate the find which is turning into a race against time after the delicate wood was exposed to air.

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