An incredible discovery was made on Monday May 2 in Béthune, in Pas-de-Calais.
During preventive excavations at the construction site of a house, human bones were found.
The archeology department had to intervene on this 389 m2 plot belonging to a couple.
“On this land, we had heard of a project to build a residential tower.
And since we live on the ground floor, just opposite...",
they explain.
So as not to be deprived of sunshine, they therefore acquired this plot in December 2020 and decided to build their new house there, semi-buried, so that their current accommodation does not suffer from too much vis-à-vis.
To discover
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Located on the old north cemetery of the Saint-Barthélemy collegiate church, archaeologists carried out preventive excavations and brought to light thirteen skeletons in an excellent state of preservation.
“The collegiate church was the oldest and the main church in the city between the end of the 10th century and the beginning of the 19th century, when it was demolished”,
explains the agglomeration of Béthune-Bruay (CABBALR) to Actu Pas-de -Calais.
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Most of the bones date from the 18th century, but
"other individuals, discovered in greater depth, clearly date from even more distant times",
specified the communication service of the CABBALR.
The remains of the bodies will be analyzed to find out more about the state of health, sex and age of this Béthunoise population.
The first group of seven remains found at a shallow depth would be made up of five adults and two minors.
The discovery delights archeology enthusiasts in the region, but much less the couple because in-depth excavations could be undertaken, at their expense.
This blended family chose to acquire the land via an SCI (Société Civile Immobilière).
But this solution could turn out to be very costly: if additional excavations have to be carried out (very highly probable), this would cost the owners around €300,000.
If the purchase had been made in the couple's name, he would have paid nothing...