The remnants of an old Revolutionary War ship have been unearthed in Virginia during the digging for a new hotel's construction site. It sailed the Potomac River 250 years ago before the area was refilled to extend the land area of the city of Alexandria.
The area at 220 S. Union Street, where the warship was found, used to be a cove and had to be filled in - or as coined in the 18th century, "banked out" - according to the Historic Context from the Alexandria Archaeology Museum. John Carlyle put up a warehouse on the location, and it is not unlikely that there are other similar vessels that were used as foundation and frames to begin the "banking out" of the cove.
Looking like the bones of a whale. An old ship unearthed in #Alexandria #Virginia pic.twitter.com/hxJsUGWzoV
— G.M. Malliet, Author (@GMMalliet) January 5, 2016
Francine Bromberg, an archaeologist from the Alexandria Archaeology Museum, noted that this was an exceptional find. "A remarkable archaeological dream basically," Bromberg said, according to FOX News. "We know that this ship was put in place sometime between 1775 and 1798."
Alexandria is in partnership with Thunderbird Archaeology, the consultant for the hotel developer, to document any archaeological finds during the construction, like photographs and 3-D laser scanning that may reach three levels deep.
Dan Baicy, the firm's field director, found the discovery unique. "It's very rare. This almost never happens," Baicy said, according to the Washington Post. "In 15 years that I've done this work, I've never run into this kind of preservation in an urban environment where there's so much disturbance."
Further investigation will be done on the Revolutionary war ship as it will be unearthed on Monday. This will help archaeologists trace its routes and what it used to transport.
