Excavations continue of remains of 18th-century ship found 30ft beneath Ground Zero
At the site of one of America's darkest days, a construction crew recently uncovered a reminder of its brightest. On July 13, workers excavating New York City's Ground Zero unearthed 32 feet of an 18th-century ship, 30 feet below the street where the World Trade Center once stood.
Overseen by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, the site, one block from the where the twin towers stood, is under construction as the future location of the rebuilt World Trade Center's vehicle security center, parking garage, and park.
Officials from AKRF, a New York City-based environmental and archaeological consulting firm that has worked with the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation on the redevelopment of the entire Ground Zero site since 2002, were monitoring construction the morning of the discovery. Michael Pappalardo, an archaeologist with AKRF and the excavation project manager, says his firm had been prepared to find 18th- and 19th-century artifacts as the area in what was once the Hudson River had been identified a former landfill created as part of New York City's expansion.