Upper Hudson River dig finds history, PCBs

STILLWATER -- Archaeologists are digging for artifacts in a battle-scarred and history-rich stretch of the upper Hudson River where thousands of Europeans, Americans and Native Americans fought and died during more than a century of sporadic warfare, culminating in the Americans' defeat of the British at Saratoga.

"This area served as a continual frontier battleground for 150 years before the Revolutionary War," said Joe Finan, superintendent at the Saratoga National Historical Park in Stillwater, site of the Battles of Saratoga.

The archaeologists are hoping to complete their task ahead of a different kind of dig along the river for something more recent occupants left behind: polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs.

The work by the National Park Service is part of a two-year program to identify "high-fertility areas" on park-owned lands within the river's floodplain where 18th-century artifacts could be found, Finan said.

The study coincides with the federal government-ordered dredging of PCBs from the river bottom at Fort Edward, 20 miles north of the battlefield.

The EPA has ordered General Electric to remove PCBs the company dumped into the river at Fort Edward and neighboring Hudson Falls for 30 years, ending in 1977 when the practice was banned as toxic.

Dredgers are expected to reach the national park's stretch of riverfront in 2014. That gives the parks service time to dig around its 2,800-acre battlefield property for any artifacts missed by previous sanctioned excavations or overlooked by "pot hunters" who loot historical sites, Finan said.

Area historians support the archaeological project and note the potential damage dredging poses to historical objects that may lie along the shore or on the river bottom.

Two years ago, a dredging crew working close to shore accidentally ripped away some of the riverbank timbers from the original Fort Edward, built by the British during the French and Indian War.

"Concerns? Oh yeah, big time. Especially from Schuylerville down," said Linda Palmieri, historian in Stillwater.

The park service and EPA are aware of those concerns. "We learned a lesson from that," said Gary Klawinski, EPA's dredging project manager.

The American victory at Saratoga persuaded the French to join in the fight against Britain, and France's contribution of soldiers, ships and money to the young United States was a major factor in the colonies gaining their independence.