WASHINGTON, D.C.—Dendrochronologists have determined that a 50-foot ship discovered along the colonial waterfront in Alexandria, Virginia, was constructed with wood from trees that had been chopped down sometime after 1741, according to a WTOP report. Benjamin Skolnik, a City of Alexandria archaeologist, said that the researchers were also able to determine that the trees had come from Boston. Eighteenth-century maps show the ship sunk in the river when the city expanded and filled in the waterway. “The early colonists banked out,” said Skolnik. “They cut down into the bluff that was along the river bank, filled into the river. Actually extended eastward into the Potomac River,” he explained. The excavation team also recovered the bulkhead where the ship had been tied. The wood from the wharf dates to the winter of 1773-1774, which corresponds with historic records. To read more about nautical archaeology, go to "Shipwreck Alley."
