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Olancha-Cartago 4-Lane Project

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Rothman:

--- Quote from: pderocco on May 26, 2023, 02:10:57 AM ---
--- Quote from: skluth on May 23, 2023, 11:31:39 AM ---I couldn't read the article (paywalled). However, this is commonly done for construction in Europe. You may remember the finding of Richard III's remains under a British parking lot; the site was examined and the bones reburied in a different place. It also happens in this country. A quick googling shows this and this and this.

--- End quote ---

Richard III was a king, an historical figure. And the cemeteries were recent enough that some remains in them could be identified. I don't have anything against that. But there has to be a time limit on it. The further into the past you go, the more places on the map you can't build freely, because of some completely anonymous bones that can only be assumed to be distance ancestors of some particular group of people who lives here today. And it's a crap-shoot because you don't know where those places are until you start digging.

--- End quote ---
That's why DOTs employ archaeologists or consultants...

skluth:

--- Quote from: pderocco on May 26, 2023, 02:10:57 AM ---
--- Quote from: skluth on May 23, 2023, 11:31:39 AM ---I couldn't read the article (paywalled). However, this is commonly done for construction in Europe. You may remember the finding of Richard III's remains under a British parking lot; the site was examined and the bones reburied in a different place. It also happens in this country. A quick googling shows this and this and this.

--- End quote ---

Richard III was a king, an historical figure. And the cemeteries were recent enough that some remains in them could be identified. I don't have anything against that. But there has to be a time limit on it. The further into the past you go, the more places on the map you can't build freely, because of some completely anonymous bones that can only be assumed to be distance ancestors of some particular group of people who lives here today. And it's a crap-shoot because you don't know where those places are until you start digging.

--- End quote ---

They didn't know it was Richard III at first. It was just somebody dug up from under a parking lot. My point is this happens fairly frequently, in all sorts of environments, in every country. The other three examples I cited were all in the United States. It happens more with minorities because a) Native Americans were here for thousands of years before us and b) minority cemeteries and settlements were less documented than European settlements through our country's history.

In any case, it rarely ends up with a project being redrawn or cancelled; this isn't wetlands or an ecologically sensitive area with a rare butterfly. The usual course is for the site to be studied which is usually not as long as most studies because there is something to be built. The highway will still be built. I guess we could do it like China where one party rule means that anything that can't be exploited for tourist or political reasons isn't important, but I think we're better than that.

Quillz:
I really don't see a major delay at all. They'll identify the remains, rebury them elsewhere, and construction will continue. Not the first time or the last time something like this has happened. Everyone wins, frankly, because usually that implies an old burial site and it can usually help tribes or any other group learn more about their past.

pderocco:
I drove past this last Saturday, and traffic at the north end of the project has been moved over to a new roadbed for a couple miles while they replace the old roadbed with something higher. And I just noticed that Google Earth (but not Google Maps) has new imagery that shows the progress as of 9/16. Quite a bit of the southern part has been paved. And contrary to the above posts, it doesn't look like the route has been moved at all, compared to the published planning map from the Caltrans site.

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