Second Burial Vault Discovered in Greenwich Village
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
NEW YORK, NEW YORK—A second early nineteenth-century burial vault has been uncovered beneath Washington Square Park during work conducted by the city’s Department of Design and Construction (DDC). The vault is identical to the first one, which was found last week and had previously been uncovered in 1965 by the ConEdison power company. “It’s the second vault we didn’t expect,” archaeologist Alyssa Loorya of Chrysalis Archaeology told The Guardian. The second arched brick chamber contains 20 wooden coffins, some with name and date plates, and it has a wooden door with an intact lock that faces westward under the park. The archaeological team is investigating the burials with high-resolution photographs and has no plan to enter the chamber or move the bodies. “You can get enough resolution to see dental wear patterns, suture closings on bones,” Loorya said. To read more about the archaeology of the city, go to "New York's Original Seaport."
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