Archaeological Find in NYC

Manhattan has grown substantially since it was first founded, with Peter Stuyvesant undertaking the first stage of expansion in 1646. This illustration, developed by Gothamist, compares the inital footprint of the south end of the island with its extents today, and an animation of the various stages of expansion has been developed by Racontours here.

Houses, rubble, and debris were deposited over time to create additional land, extending the island east of its original eastern boundary, Pearl Street, and west of Greenwich Street.

Physical evidence of that expansion was recently uncovered during the monitoring of the excavation at the World Trade Center Vehicle Security Center and Tour Bus Parking projects. The wooden hull of a ship that dates to the late 1700s has been found near Ground Zero, south of the where the World Trade Centers stood. (About half of the Ground Zero site was underwater prior to 1797, according to Molly MacDonald, an archaeologist with AKRF, the firm documenting the discovery.) The ship was part of the debris used to expand the land area.




Doug Mackey, the chief regional archaeologist for the SHPO said, "We know [these] things exist but we don't get the opportunity to record them very often." According to AKRF, the last time a similar find was made was in 1982, when an 18th-century cargo ship was found at 175 Water Street. AKRF is documenting the find as exposure to the air is quickly deteriorating the wood.