San Francisco – Archaeologists have confirmed a long-time suspicion of historians and say that famed Alcatraz prison was built over a Civil War-era military fortification.
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SFGate reports researchers have found a series of buildings and tunnels under the prison yard of Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, which once held Al Capone.
A study published in “Near Surface Geophysics” says archaeologists used ground-penetrating radar and terrestrial laser scans and historical maps and photographs.
They found fully buried structures, ammunition magazines and tunnels.
Historians believe workers built over existing structures when the prison was built in the 20th century.
Alcatraz first came to the attention of the U.S. government after it wrestled control of California from Mexico in the 1840s.
Its location in San Francisco Bay made it attractive for military fortification purposes.
“Alcatraz first came to the attention of the U.S. government after it wrestled control of California from Mexico in the 1840s.”
“Wrestled Control” or conquered? The AP sure knows how to spin things both ways… if only they were this kind in their choice of words when reporting about Israel.
A little background helps. Though the first known Europeans in California were working for Spain, they reported the place had no value and thus never claimed much of it for anything (and in fact refused to publish much about it as being “secret”). It was 1579 when Sir Francis Drake who arrived on shore and claimed it for England and even showed up on maps as “Nova Albion” (“Albion” is an old name for England).
Thus the territory was largely already disputed between the warring British and Spanish already from the get-go.