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

(#11) An Ancient Mayan Ball Court Was Uncovered In Mexico

In 2006, a housing project uncovered ancient historical ruins in Yucatan, Mexico. Thankfully, the National Institute of Anthropology was asked to step in when the remains of a Mayan ballgame court was discovered under the construction site.
Fernando Acevedo and Donato Espana discovered that the court was 2,500-years-old and quite large, with a maximum length of 82 feet and a width of 15 feet. The court was used for a ballgame that also played an important cultural role in the Mayan religion. This important heritage site was ultimately saved from destruction.
(#14) An 18th Century Cemetery Was Found At A Site For A New Orleans Swimming Pool

In 2011, Vincent Marcello was prepared to find remains when he wanted to build a new pool, and so decided to hire archeologist Ryan Gray to dig in the area before construction began.

As all involved suspected, Gray did find human remains. In fact, he uncovered 15 wooden coffins where the new pool was to be installed. It turns out that these dearly departed were interred in the larger Saint Peter Cemetery of New Orleans. This was not surprising to anyone (insanely) because bones and whole skeletons were unearthed in the '80s during another building project nearby. With the utmost care and respect, Gray’s team sent all coffins and human remains, as found, to Louisiana State University to be studied and cared for.
(#4) An 1894 Time Capsule Was Discovered Under A Scottish Bridge

In 2015, in the Cairngorms National Park in Scotland, a 121-year-old time capsule was discovered by construction workers on a section of the Ruthven Road bridge. The capsule itself was a metal box, similar to a safe-deposit box at a bank.
When the capsule was opened, the items inside that were found included: a bottle of whisky, a newspaper from 1894, a scroll, and some other items. The items and the box itself were donated to the nearby Highland Folk Museum to be studied. It is believed that the time capsule was placed within the structure of the bridge when it was originally constructed at the end of the 19th century.
(#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.
(#16) An Unexploded WW2 Era RAF Bomb Was Uncovered In Berlin

During the Second World War, Allied bombing campaigns dropped a total of 3.4 million tons of explosives. A lot of those bombs, possibly as many as 15 percent, didn’t detonate. They simply disappeared during reconstruction efforts after the war was over. As a result, many countries in Europe and Asia continue to find unexploded ordnance underneath buildings and other public places.

On Christmas Day 2016 in the Schwabian city of Augsburg in Bavaria, a four-thousand pound (two ton) RAF bomb from World War Two was discovered underneath a construction site. This forced the evacuation of 54,000 local inhabitants.
(#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.