Staten Island, NY

I've worked many times on Staten Island in archaeological testing. The last time was for Panamerican Consultants of Buffalo, NY, testing parts of about 3 miles of the eastern coast of the island for an Army Corps of Engineers study to replace old seawalls and create storm flood buffer zones, in part along the fourth longest boardwalk in the world. Tests were required to 1 meter depth and many were dug close to beach or wetland, however some were in the area between curb and sidewalk. Also on Staten Island I have with crews, and as crew, conducted archaeological tests many times over the years as Staten Island has been further developed. I was first part of the crew involved with testing in the Sandy Ground Historic District said to be New York State's first free African-American community and a number of small prehistoric sites were mitigated and some historic remains tested. It was once to be nominated to the National Register as a district. Nearby was an old blacksmith shop, owned by an over 100 year old African-American that burned down, unfortunately, thought to be at least as old as he was. An interesting fact is that the "Prall Site" on Staten Island in the historic interpretative center and former "Tory capital" of Richmondtown, is where the first Landmarks Preservation Commission archaeologist's doctoral thesis was on at Stony Brook University where I attended grad school. I also visited her while she worked on it with students from Wagner College, and at the animal quarantine center, at Sailors Snug Harbor, and at the NYC "Conference House" on the southern tip of the island, where Benjamin Franklin tried to negotiate a "bloodless revolution". She had team taught my field-school in "Long Island Archaeology" with R. M. Gramly, Ph.D., and Margaret Gwynne, Ph.D.