"Beaverwick" near Albany, NY the once Dutch capital, was reported in
the news, an example of why "Public Archaeology"* should be more often
than not in the "public domain". A concerned letter was submitted by
the government in the Netherlands concerned over what was becoming of
their heritage in the dismissal of what I think was further
recommended work by the hired archaeologists. The New York governor
was out of the country, researching his roots in Hungary. Subsequent
charges I read led to the local chapter of the statewide archaeology
association receiving $250,000 in penalty from the Dormitory
Authority.
The same penalty I heard was used to fund the now closed "New York
Unearthed" archaeology center and museum at 17 State Street in New
York City a number of years ago (plaque says where Herman Melville
lived and worked as a US Customs officer, who wrote, and, yesterday in
1851, published "The Whale" which became "Moby-Dick" changed perhaps
over the popularity of "Mocha-Dick"), run by the South Street Seaport
people. The construction proceeded without a timely review.
It also may make further sense as arguable archaeology issues over
sites can now be revisited in Google Earth, or Virtual Earth or
Wikimap (very good, rectangles mark areas of interest) and see just
what was planned and what became of the property in review. One
repeated idiom is that "all publicity is good publicity", as it's like
free advertisement, another factor. One site I worked on Wickers Creek
became however a litigation in part of the First Amendment, which the
judge had to remind the developer we have a right to speech. One might
argue, in the work place we have the "right to know" which chemicals
we mix, we might also have the right to know what may have been on a
property for groundwater, contamination, etc., and on some of those I
have been part of the described examination that results from
archaeology, which actually has aided the 'national priority" cleanup
I was told.
George Myers
*An actual M.S. degree once offered at Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute, Troy, NY at the oldest English-speaking engineering school
in the western hemisphere, offered for a time in the late 1970s,
taught in part, by staff of New York State's Office of Parks,
Recreation and Historic Preservation and Sherene Baugher, PhD. a Stony
Brook University Anthropology recent grad who was hired as the New
York City Landmarks Preservation Commission's first archaeologist for
consultation and review of other archaeology work submitted to the
Commission. Landmarks, as it referred to, is charter-empowered by the
Planning Commission who issue a "certificate of occupancy" to those
who complete approved construction.
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