San Juan, Puerto Rico Via East Orange, New Jersey, Making It Work: Cultural Resource Management from Across an Ocean
SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO VIA EAST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY, MAKING IT WORK: CULTURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT FROM ACROSS AN OCEAN Timothy R. Sara and Sharla C. Azizi The Louis Berger Group, Inc. ❐ ABSTRACT This paper describes the principal findings of an urban archaeological investigation conducted in a cultural resource management (CRM) context in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico (Sara and Marín Rom n 1999). The inves- tigation was prompted by the United States General Services Administration’s need to rehabilitate the Federal Courthouse and Post Office Building in the Old City. A major component of the investigation was the recovery and analysis of more than 16,000 Spanish colonial-period artifacts from urban fills beneath the building. The col- lection includes a total of 106 ceramic ware types, various small finds including gun flints, tobacco pipes, bone combs, die, and buttons, dietary faunal remains, and fine examples of European decorated glass. Analysis of these artifacts revealed that, despite strict trade laws imposed by the Spanish Crown, San Juan was well-integrated in the world economy early in its history. As a result of careful planning and coordination by project archaeologists and engineers, the remains of the Bastión de San Justo del Muelle, a massive seventeenth-century fortification work, was left in situ beneath the building during new construction. The successful outcome of the project was owed to the close coordination by the Federal and local government agencies, historic preservation consultants, and local specialists in Puerto Rican history and historical archaeology. Resumen Esta ponencia describir una programa de investigación arqueológica manejar en un contexto de Manejo de Recursos Culturales en el Viejo San de Puerto Rico (Sara y Marín Rom n 1999).
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