But shortly after their JCB digger started removing paving slabs it was clear their hopes of historical discoveries would be dashed.

Many archaeological sites found contain scattered stone artefacts from old campsites, and scarred trees from which traditional people removed slabs of bark to make canoes, containers and shields.

They began removing giant slabs of concrete from the crater ripped open by the bomb in an underground garage, lifting them through a 30-by-30-foot hole that has been opened two levels above the blast site to allow workers to lower a crane's ball and chain into the crater.

Elgin's men removed huge slabs of sculptured decoration from the fabric of the Parthenon itself.

But Portland, according to Susan Bransfield, the first selectwoman, has stipulated that the Hayeses not alter the area too much, like removing old walls or loose slabs.

The architects also designed from the inside out, removing slabs of concrete.

In June 1995, a 23-year-old Fabi worker who was removing concrete slabs atop Tropicana's adjacent 10-story parking garage fell 100 feet to his death, down an elevator shaft, after the floor he was standing on collapsed.

Several hundred troops and emergency workers at the scene were searching for bodies in the debris, but without heavy machinery to remove concrete slabs and beams, the work went slowly.

He and his colleagues were removing slabs of siltstone that had been sediment in a lake or lagoon hundreds of millions of years ago.