The Skeletal Biology of the New York African Burial Ground (Pt. 1)

The New York African Burial Ground was “rediscovered” in 1989 in the process of preparation for the construction of a proposed 34-story federal office building by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) at 290 Broadway in New York City (Ingle et al. 1990). The site for the proposed building was once part of the African Burial Ground that extended “from Chambers Street on the south to Duane Street on the north and from Centre Street on the east to Broadway on the west” (Yamin 2000:vii). A fullscale archaeological excavation was conducted by Historic Conservation and Interpretation (HCI) and John Milner Associates, Inc. (JMA), preceding the building project, as required under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (NHPA) (as amended) in order to mitigate the destruction of potential cultural resources (Figure 1). The excavation and construction site on the African Burial Ground is located at Foley Square, in the city block bounded by Broadway, Duane, Reade, and Elk Streets in Lower Manhattan, one block north of City Hall.https://scholarworks.wm.edu/asbook/1042/thumbnail.jp