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Excavating Beekman
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January 18, 2008
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by Courtney Scott
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Area 5. Barrel Vaults (Beekman Street North, between Pearl Street and Water Street)
![[image]](thumbnails/vault1.gif) |
![[image]](thumbnails/vault2.gif) |
The interior of a barrel vault (Chrysalis Archaeological Consultants) |
Excavation along the north side of Beekman Street discovered four barrel vaults. These were supports for the nineteenth-century buildings along Beekman Street. Two of the vaults had been destroyed during previous construction episodes. The two intact vaults were made of red nineteenth-century brick and were approximately 11 feet wide with an interior height of four to five feet. No archaeological materials relating to the nineteenth-century buildings that once stood on the site were found in the vaults. Instead, they were filled with the discarded material from the twentieth-century demolition of the buildings.
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![[image]](javascript:bigImage('http://www.archaeology.org/image.php?page=online/features/beekman/jpegs/vault1.jpg'))
![[image]](javascript:bigImage('http://www.archaeology.org/image.php?page=online/features/beekman/jpegs/vault2.jpg'))
