NYC Urban Archaeology ca. 1984 - former site of the US Federal Assay Office, where precious metals were evaluated. In 1983 it "...sold for $27 million, making it the most valuable piece of Government real estate ever put to public auction." NY Times The smoke stack was sandblasted for ~ $100k in gold that went up the chimney. It had a "floating vault" the guards could see under and built out of vertical interspersed railroad track to make it impenetrable. These are the remains of the 19th century wharves that were under it, when it was used as part of the lower east side of Manhattan seaport, the prevailing wind and currents favored sail.
Photo of "contract" or business archaeology required in cases by US Federal 106 regulations that have "trickled down" to State and local "cultural resource management" (CRM) individuals and their institutions.
Partly by law, much of this work is often not available in the "grey" literature of so-called "public archaeology" which at one time was to be made more available, as it is in some places in Great Britain, which has, by definition, a more extensive archaeology (US Federal: "archeology") Click on heading for link to facebook photo album. Or here.
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