From Ancient Artifacts to Modern Accidents: How Regional Discoveries in New York Reflect Legal Lessons in Preservation and Responsibility

From Ancient Artifacts to Modern Accidents: How Regional Discoveries in New York Reflect Legal Lessons in Preservation and Responsibility

New York State is layered with history: from millennia-old Indigenous sites, colonial-era relics, and buried settlements, to modern urban infrastructure and occasional catastrophes of collapse, contamination or construction accidents. In each case, discoveries—whether intentional archaeological digs or unexpected unearthings through development or accident—raise important legal questions about preservation, liability, property rights, and public…