by James Dunne – The CREative Department
I thought I’d share an interesting construction tidbit: a close friend of mine works for a large real estate management company. Recently, at one of the buildings they manage, excavation work was being preformed in the cellar; however, the work had to be stopped, because they uncovered bones. There was a church directly across the street, so initially they though they may have hit an old graveyard. In cases where the unanticipated discovery of human remains occurs, the New York Police department must be contacted, in addition to the Medical Examiners office, as well as the Landmarks Preservation Committee (LPC). The basic procedure is as follows: the bones are sent to the Medical Examiners office, if the bones are determined to be less than 100 years old, then the property is considered a crime scene, in which case an investigation is opened. If the bones are determined to be more than 100 years old, the LPC contacts an archeologist to determine if there is any “historical significance” to the findings. While this is occurring, construction is stopped. If the site is determined to be of historical significance, an archeological team will be called in, which can significantly delay construction. In the end, the bones at the building that my friend’s company manages, turned out to be animal bones, and 24 hours later, they continued construction, and everyone took a sigh of relief.
