Skeletal remains believed to date back to the seventh or eighth century AD have been found during excavations to repair the 'masegno' flagstones in St Mark's Square in Venice, lead archaeologist Sara Bini told IlGazzettino di Venezia newspaper Tuesday.
The dig ordered by the superintendency to fix the magni that have been abraded by floodwater has uncovered seven skeletons in a common grave dating back to the late Middel Ages on the former site of the San Geminiano Church, the church of the Doges, which was eventually razed by Napoleon.
The skeletons, which include that of a child aged about eight, a woman and five adult males, constitute a major find, Bini said.
"It's a very important discovery," she said.
"We can hypothesise that this tomb housed high-ranking persons.
"We imagine that they were significant people seeing that it was not a simple ditch but a brick tomb with a certain minumentality considering the era".
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