Excavated ship traced to Colonial-era Philadelphia
Tuesday, July 29, 2014 - 07:30
in Paleontology & Archaeology
Four years ago this month, archeologists monitoring the excavation of the former World Trade Center site uncovered a ghostly surprise: the bones of an ancient sailing ship. Tree-ring scientists at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory were among those asked to analyze its remains for clues about its age and origins. In a study now out in the journal Tree Ring Research, the scientists say that an old growth forest in the Philadelphia area supplied the white oak used in the ship's frame, and that the trees were probably cut in 1773 or so—a few years before the bloody war that established America's independence from Britain.