As they built for the future, crews at the World Trade Center site dug up a piece of the past.

What's believed to be a ship from the 1700s was uncovered by workers excavating the site between Liberty and Cedar Streets on Tuesday morning.

Archaeologists say the vessel was most likely used with other debris as landfill to extend Lower Manhattan further into the Hudson River.

The 32-feet-long hull of the ship was unearthed about 30 feet below street level. The ship survived for centuries because the area was untouched during the initial construction of the World Trade Center.

Now, the wooden hull is deteriorating rapidly after being exposed to the air.

"It's been cut in half, and some portions have been lost in the construction of this wall," said archaeologist Michael Pappalardo. "I have no idea how long this would have been. I would guess it could have been twice as long."

The top half of the ship is missing, and experts say the ship would have been too large to have cruised the area's rivers. Instead, they believe the ship was a seafaring vessel that would have docked at the piers that once existed in Lower Manhattan at a time when the Hudson River would have flowed further inland.

"Boats would have come in the slip, dropped off cargo or picked up things," said Pappalardo.

While it is too massive an undertaking to preserve the entire find, the hull is being mapped and officials say individual pieces will be preserved and catalogued.

Archeologists also found a nearly 100-pound anchor in the same area yesterday, but it is unclear if it belonged to the ship.

According to the Parks Department, any artifacts from the site may end up at the South Street Seaport Museum.