Roman-era graves found in Barcelona's Via Laietana boulevard works

Archaeologists have found nine different graves with human remains during the refurbishment works of the Via Laietana boulevard in Barcelona, as announced on Tuesday. Seven tombs are from the Roman Empire era, while two are from late antiquity.

The graves are added to the already found ones in February on the other side of the street, which were already documented, studied, and stored at Barcelona's culture institute (ICUB) in the Zona Franca port area warehouse unit.

The tombs date back to the 4th to the 7th centuries.

Some of these tombs were found cut in half, because the old wall in the Catalan capital was built in that area, and cut the graves for its construction.

The discovery came as no surprise as experts already expected to find the tombs before the construction works even started.

"It is normal for tombs to be found as we are where there used to be a burial building where an important person was buried," Joan Garriga, archaeologist and head of the archaeology unit in Via Laietana works, said to media outlets.

"He was a person of high importance in Barcelona, as they built a building to bury him, and then residents buried around this person, and those are graves we are digging now," he added.

The findings will now be documented and studied, as happened before.

This is not the first time archaeologists have found elements from previous years, such as pavements from the 19th century and medieval walls.