(AP) The curved ribs of a 18th-century wooden boat hull found at World Trade Center site in New York City.
18th Century Ship Hull Discovered at Ground Zero
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JULY 16, 2010
David Johnson, Citizen Journalist

Archeologists Molly McDonald and A. Michael Pappalardo were at the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks when an exciting discovery was made.
"We noticed curved timbers that a back hoe brought up," McDonald said Wednesday. "We quickly found the rib of a vessel and continued to clear it away and expose the hull over the last two days."
The 32-foot-long ship hull apparently was used in the 18th century as part of the fill that extended lower Manhattan into the Hudson River.
McDonald said she wanted to at least salvage some timbers; it was unclear if any large portions could be lifted intact. "We're mostly clearing it by hand because it's kind of fragile," she said, but construction equipment could be used later in the process.
"We're going to send timber samples to a laboratory to do dendrochronology that will help us to get a sense of when the boat was constructed," said McDonald. Dendrochronology is the science that uses tree rings to determine dates and chronological order.
In addition to the hull, a 100-pound anchor was found a few yards from the ship hull on Wednesday. However the archeologists are not sure if it belongs to the ship.
Because the delicate wood, now exposed to the air, will begin to deteriorate quickly the archaeologists are racing to record and analyze the vessel. "I kept thinking of how closely it came to being destroyed," Pappalardo said.
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