Random Most Bizarre Historical Artifacts Ever Discovered On Construction Sites (16 items)

(#5) A 13th Century Mansion Was Found Under Somerset, England

In 2013, during construction for a housing development in Wellington, England, excavators discovered the foundations of a 12th-century mansion. Archeologists working on the discovery later discovered that there were no historical records of the building. Normally, large estates have deeds and other records kept by the occupants, local lords, or with church officials.

While no sufficient information about the mansion’s history or occupants has ever been found, archeologists did discover a segment of tile in the mansion with a knight painted on it. Because this is similar to tiles at Glastonbury Abbey, this revelation made the site and mansion foundations instantly more important and of great historical value. While the housing project continued, the artifacts uncovered from the archeological dig ended up being moved to the Museum of Somerset for study and preservation.
(#10) A 1,500-Year-Old Byzantine Church Beneath Was Found Beneath A Highway

Honestly, it's kind of hard to dig anywhere in Israel and not find something of immense historic value. Along the side of an ancient road the remains of a 1,500-year-old Byzantine church were discovered when construction workers were performing routine maintenance on a modern highway very close to where the church was located.
Situated close to Jerusalem, the church had a white marble floor and cruciform-shaped baptisterium (a small pool where worshipers and adherents are baptized into the faith). In addition to the church itself, lots of smaller items were discovered and saved from destruction of the road maintenance. Among the items found were; mother of pearl shells, glass jars, marble, and oil lamps. Netivei Israel, the National Transportation Infrastructure Company, has taken steps to preserve the entire site for people to see.
(#3) A Child's Letter To Santa Claus From 1943 Was Found In A Chimney

A letter was written by a little boy named David and addressed to Santa Claus during Christmas 1943. The letter was presumably placed with care inside the chimney of David’s home. Seventy-two years later, contractor Lewis Shaw was helping demolish the same home when his crew found the letter, still inside the chimney. It read:

“Dear Father Christmas,

Please can you send me a Rupert annual, and a drum box of chalks, soldiers and Indians, slippers and any little toys you have to spare,

Love

David”

Miraculously, this letter was reunited with David. Shaw tried to track him down with Facebook and by speaking to neighbors who still lived close by. The search even gave birth to a social media campaign, #FindDavid. Shaw eventually found the still-living David.
(#2) A 700-Year-Old Mummy Was Found Under A Chinese Road

In 2011, a very well-preserved mummified woman was found underneath a modern road in the city of Taizhou, in the Jiangsu Province of eastern China. The woman, a member of the Ming Dynasty, was found by a construction crew working on a road that she was buried under. Construction workers described her as being submerged in a "‘brown liquid."

She was just under five feet tall, and dressed in silk finery with robes, slippers, jewelry. Amazingly, her hair and eyebrows were still intact. After observing her and her tomb, Taizhou Museum director Wang Weiyin estimated that the mummy was about 700 years old.
(#7) A Medieval Hospital Was Found In Madrid, Underneath The Future Site Of An Apple Store

The bubonic plague swept from Italy through Europe. Hospitals became overwhelmed with plague victims, and many had to be shut down and abandoned when no physicians were left to treat sick patients. In 2013, the foundations of one of those hospitals was unearthed in Madrid when Spanish construction crews began excavating for the new Apple Store that was to be built there.

The hospital dates from the 15th century, and was specifically used to treat sufferers of the bubonic plague. It continued to be used well into the 19th century, but it was closed and torn down in the 1850s.
(#1) A Mummified Toddler Was Found In A Parisian Apartment

In 1850, a Parisian couple was having work done in their apartment when the mummified remains of a baby fell out of a wall. At first, there was a lot of suspicion about the couple. But Dr. Marcel Bereget decided to determine the amount of time since death by using common house flies to see if they would swarm over the body. It was determined that the child had passed quite some time ago.

There was no further information about who the child was or how he or she perished and ended up in the wall. Likely, the child had been there for years.