126th Street Bus Depot Archaeology

The former 126th Street bus depot on Second Avenue in Manhattan — proposed for mixed-use redevelopment by the City of New York — was built atop a cemetery now known as the Harlem African Burial Ground. To ensure the proper recognition of and respect for the site, AKRF was retained by the New York City Economic Development Corporation to perform a Phase 1B archaeological investigation to determine the presence or absence of human remains and/or artifacts on the site. Our fieldwork was performed in consultation with the Harlem African Burial Ground Task Force, New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, and New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. AKRF uncovered human remains in one of four test trenches, and, in 2018, transferred the collection of records, artifacts, samples, and human remains to the New York City Archaeological Repository: The Nan A. Rothschild Research Center.