Federal, state and local historic preservation laws can affect any excavation work so knowledge of them and compliance with them can prevent fines, as well as losing a project completely.

Before digging at a construction site, it's common practice to contact local utilities to identify the locations of underground pipes and cables. Not so common: contacting a state historic preservation office to enquire about the locations of possible archaeological resources.

But according to CBRE Valuation & Advisory Services group, a review of archaeological records should be an important part of a contractor's due diligence prior to beginning construction. The large commercial real estate services and investment firm points to the recent discovery of long-buried crypts during an excavation project in New York City's Washington Square Park.

Reportedly, these types of occurrences are not uncommon, "especially in urban settings where over 500 years of American history and thousands of years of Native American relics may lie buried a few feet below the surface."

Archaeologist and managing director at CBRE Telecom Advisory Services Cris Kimbrough, PhD, PMP, says that U.S. builders "are obligated to report archaeological finds" if the project entails a federal or state permit. Occasionally, local permits require the same. And sometimes the licensing or funding process will generate "compliance with historic preservation laws," in which case, all work must stop if archaeological assets are discovered during construction. At that point, the situation is evaluated to develop a solution.

"Developers often talk about losing a project to (a state historic preservation office) but often it is just a matter of working through the process and being creative," said Kimbrough.

In the New York City example, the crypts were covered up and the work was re-routed.

On private land, there are fewer rules that apply to archaeological finds at construction sites although historic preservation rules might come into play there also.

CBRE advises that contractors should be aware of, and comply with, applicable historic preservation laws. If a project requires a review with the state historic preservation office, qualified environmental and cultural resource management consultants should be hired.

For more information, Cris Kimbrough can be contacted at WhitePlainsculturalresources@cbre.com.