IN the past months, rare artifacts; thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of historic artifacts that are as much as 4,000 years old have been uncovered on Block Island as a result of work being done on an undersea cable installation that has already disturbed sea beds and ancient fishing grounds.

R.I. Preservation and Heritage Commission teams are sifting through an enormous number of artifacts that have been found, which include fully grooved axe heads, spearheads, tools and carbonized plant and animal remains that could provide an extraordinary and never before seen view of how the inhabitants of the land we now call Block Island lived around 2,000 B.C, more than 4000 years ago.

This is an historic find that could represent years of research into our human past and the past of indigenous peoples including the  Narragansett and Wampanoag Tribes of Rhode Island.

What needs to happen is for the Army Corps of Engineers to ask the electric power company, National Grid, that has found these artifacts, to move their undersea transmission line to a different landing site, perhaps less easy to dig; that would avoid the obvious area of the well established Great Salt Pond Archaelogical District that is now hosting this undersea installation.

This is a major find that effects the history of all of us with potential clues to our origin. It is a rare opportunity to make a meaningful difference with little cost and lots of impact.