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Ancient ship hull uncovered at World Trade Center site

17 July 2010 00:16 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. The hull of a ship likely made in the 1700s was discovered at the World Trade Center site Tuesday, APA reports quoting â€œABS CBN Newsâ€.
Archaeologists say that it probably was sunk there in the effort to add land to Manhattan in the early 19th century.
Molly McDonald, an archaeologist with the firm AKRF, said that about one-third of lower Manhattan is man-made, constructed sometime between 1797 and 1836. Prior to 1797 the site of the ship was part of the Hudson River, as was about half of the ground zero site.
McDonald said that timber crisps and houses were sunk into the ground to create piers and cliffs.
"This ship was most likely sunk for the same purpose, to retain land, to create new land," she said.
A handful of ships have been found in the past 40 years, she said, "but it’s quite unusual and exciting to find it here on the World Trade Center site."