Source: PlanPhilly
Date: May 13, 2008
Byline: Kellie Patrick Gates

Archaeology begins anew at SugarHouse

SugarHouse Casino's archaeologists will do more digging to search for remains of the British Revolutionary War fort that was once on the site.

"We're planning to start today, and work will continue for the next couple of days," spokeswoman Leigh Whitaker said Tuesday morning.

The additional archaeology is in response to concerns raised by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission in a March letter. That letter was part of an on-going historical review required by federal law in order for SugarHouse to receive a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers. SugarHouse needs the permit to build into the Delaware River.

While the Corps has the final say on the permit, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission provides guidance on historic preservation. The Corps is also considering input from a group of local historians, archaeologists, environmentalists and neighborhood activists, two Native American tribes and the general public. Many have raised concerns that not enough has been done to search for and preserve the fort, ancient Indian artifacts and other pieces of the land's history.

The latest round of digging is related to Fort concerns only, Whitaker said. "We are looking east and west of where the maps tell us the fort was, as PHMC suggested," she said. That includes digging both east and west of Penn Street.

SugarHouse's archaeology consultant, A.D. Marble, outlined the work it thought should be done in response to the PHMC's letter in a May 12 document sent to the Army Corps.

In relation to the work commencing around Penn Street, Marble wrote: "We propose the excavation of two 5-10 foot-wide trenches, positioned perpendicular to Penn Street, extending 100 feet to the east as shown on Figure 1. The length of each trench will enable additional assessment for possible remnants of British Redoubt No. 1 and to further assess the potential for any maritime-related archaeological resources. "

After reading the A.D. Marble document describing the proposed scope of work, local historian Kenneth Milano was concerned that "they do not mention how deep they are going to dig."

If they do not dig deep enough, particularly west of Penn Street, they are not likely to get through modern fill in the area, he said. "There was a deep embankment and if they do not go down to the sandy shoal, they are not touching the surface, but only a couple of years of landfill."

PHMC spokesman Kirk Wilson said the agency has yet to receive an official copy of the May 12 A.D. Marble document, and it will not comment on the digging until it does.

In its March letter, the PHMC also said it wants more work done to locate the historical shoreline of the Delaware — a concern shared by Delaware Riverkeeper Maya VanRossum, who is also advising the Corps as a consulting party.

In its own recommendations, A.D. Marble has suggested more digging, including more work related to Native American artifacts. Whitaker said that SugarHouse is following the Army Corps' direction, and if the Corps says so, more digging might take place in the future, related to these other concerns.

"We always anticipated, based on A.D. Marble's, and now PHMC's recommendations, that we would have to conduct additional site work to satisfy the archaeological investigation," she said.

In the May 12 document, Marble writes that it doesn't expect the additional digging to unearth much of significance.

"It is anticipated that a low number of archaeological deposits will be identified during the additional field work and geomorphological study," Marble wrote." It is possible that one or several previously unidentified features could be found so a maximum of 200 artifacts is anticipated from the trenching and stripping procedures. After the additional field work is completed, artifact processing and cataloging will be completed in the same manner as the previous Phase IB/II studies."

Milano found Marble's prediction "bizarre." "How can they even know that there will be a maximum of 200 artifacts?" he wrote in an email. "What they appear to be saying is we will dig up 200 items then we're done. Case closed, build the casino."