[FONT="]NEW YORK (AP) — It's a ship tied to two critical points in American history: Sept. 11, 2001, and the eve of the Revolutionary War.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Researchers said this week that a vessel unearthed four years ago at the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan was made from wood cut around the year 1773 — two years before the start of the war and three years before the signing of the Declaration of Independence.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Scientists at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, writing in the July issue of the journal Tree Ring Research, said the white oak in the ship's frame came from a Philadelphia-area forest and matched the material used to build the city's Independence Hall.[/FONT]
[FONT="]They said they tentatively identified it as a Dutch-designed, Philadelphia-built sloop made to carry passengers and cargo over shallow, rocky water.[/FONT]
[FONT="]They said it sailed for 20 to 30 years before being weighed down and sunk to the bottom of the Hudson River as landfill to extend lower Manhattan.[/FONT]
[FONT="]A 32-foot piece of the vessel was found in July 2010 about 20 feet under a street during construction of a parking garage for the new 1 World Trade Center tower, part of the complex rebuilt after the 9/11 terrorist attacks took down two towers.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Archeologists dismantled the ship piece-by-piece and freeze-dried each plank so they could be studied and eventually reassembled for display.[/FONT]
[FONT="]A 100-pound iron anchor was found a few yards from the hull, possibly from the old vessel.[/FONT]
[FONT="]It was the second ship found buried in Lower Manhattan in the last four decades. Archaeologists found an 18th-century cargo ship on Water Street in 1982
AOL.com Article - Researchers: World Trade Center ship dates to 1773
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[FONT="]Researchers said this week that a vessel unearthed four years ago at the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan was made from wood cut around the year 1773 — two years before the start of the war and three years before the signing of the Declaration of Independence.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Scientists at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, writing in the July issue of the journal Tree Ring Research, said the white oak in the ship's frame came from a Philadelphia-area forest and matched the material used to build the city's Independence Hall.[/FONT]
[FONT="]They said they tentatively identified it as a Dutch-designed, Philadelphia-built sloop made to carry passengers and cargo over shallow, rocky water.[/FONT]
[FONT="]They said it sailed for 20 to 30 years before being weighed down and sunk to the bottom of the Hudson River as landfill to extend lower Manhattan.[/FONT]
[FONT="]A 32-foot piece of the vessel was found in July 2010 about 20 feet under a street during construction of a parking garage for the new 1 World Trade Center tower, part of the complex rebuilt after the 9/11 terrorist attacks took down two towers.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Archeologists dismantled the ship piece-by-piece and freeze-dried each plank so they could be studied and eventually reassembled for display.[/FONT]
[FONT="]A 100-pound iron anchor was found a few yards from the hull, possibly from the old vessel.[/FONT]
[FONT="]It was the second ship found buried in Lower Manhattan in the last four decades. Archaeologists found an 18th-century cargo ship on Water Street in 1982
AOL.com Article - Researchers: World Trade Center ship dates to 1773
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