WILMINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA—A construction crew working in front of Wilmington’s Federal Courthouse has uncovered a colonial-era cannon. Weighing up to 800 pounds, the weapon probably dates to between 1700 and 1750, says Chris Southerly of the Underwater Archaeology Branch of the Office of State Archaeology. “It’s been probably buried, maybe used as backfill or just an old cannon that was non-functional,” Southerly told Port City Daily. “More than likely it could have been off an armed vessel at the time. We have a lot of shipwrecks here in the vicinity, especially the Cape Fear River, that date from colonial times right on up to modern wrecks.” Archaeologists plan to conserve the cannon and search for maker’s marks that could help date it with more precision. To read more about colonial-era archaeology in America, go to “American Refugees.”