A boat of the 18th century found at Ground Zero

An old boat two or three centuries has been found at Ground Zero on the construction site of the future World Trade Center. The New York Times, this unexpected discovery has fascinated historians and archaeologists.

The construction workers were digging the foundations of the next round probably wearily, when their picks suddenly struck wooden beams in the middle of the mud. An old building has it hidden under ground, year after year? No, it would be a boat, according to A. Michael Pappalardo, an archaeologist society AKRF, to identify archaeological material uncovered during the work on behalf of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey:

    "The ruins were so structured that they can be a portion of the vessel."

These remains have attracted more attention than the simple wooden structures of the retaining wall on this site, built late 18th and early 19th century to enlarge the island of Manhattan at the expense of the Hudson River.

It is under the street level on the site of the World Trade Center have been discovered thirty feet from the wooden hull of a ship. It is the first major archaeological discovery made in the vicinity of Manhattan since 1982, the 18th century qund cargo was found at 175 Water Street.

The excavation area where the boat was found, located between Liberty and Cedar Streets, is not located under the original WTC. The vessel discovered just seen the day for the first time since probably several centuries ... The discovery quickly made noise. And archaeologists closely following the case, as Doug Mackey expressed concern about the condition of the ship, barely protected by a cocoon of mud:

    "If the sun was shining, the wood has already begun its decomposition"

A view shared by the archaeologist Molly McDonald on the Guardian website:

    "We'll take care of everything by hand because it is fragile"

A den of about 45 kilograms was also discovered a few meters of the area, but the teams are not sure that the piece belongs to the ship well. More intriguing, a necklace of metal semicircular few meters has been found, apparently leaning on a brick base built into the hull. It could be a furnace or a steam engine. The name of the boat could even be found. Stay tuned.