Civil War cannonballs discovered at Pa. construction site

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A construction worker found Civil War-era cannonballs in a bucket of dirt unearthed Monday at the site of an apartment building under development in Pittsburgh.

The location in the city’s Lawrenceville neighborhood was once a munitions depot and manufacturing plant for Union forces known as the Allegheny Arsenal, PennLive reported.

Crews were aware of the location’s history and were on alert for any Civil War relics, Sonya Toler, a Pittsburgh police spokesperson, told KDKA-TV.

Hey @gbrowniepoints, clear the deck, REAL cannonballs comin’ dahn Lawrenceville. https://t.co/UqbSrNvGO1

— KDKA Morning News (@kdkamorningshow) March 28, 2017

“We believe that [the cannonballs] contain gun powder, so they are explosive,” Toler said. “But the way these objects were built, they’re pretty secure, so no one here is in any danger.”

Police and the bomb squad were called to the site as a precaution but another company will handle the removal of the objects before construction can continue, she said.

Published: March 28, 2017 — 10:08 AM EDT

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