Construction workers find skeletal remains near Manhattan church

Construction workers renovating a Manhattan garden discovered human skeletal remains on Thursday in the West Village. The New York Post reported that workers found the bones at around 11:00 a.m. while excavating near St. John's Lutheran Church, located at Christopher Street and Seventh Avenue. [1]

Police officers called to the scene located the remains five feet underground beneath a layer of brick, according to the New York Post. Authorities and law enforcement sources said the discovered bones included half a skull and a spinal cord. [1]

The discovery occurred at the site of a former centuries-old cemetery. Human bones are sometimes gathered in an ossuary, which is a chest, building, or site used as a final resting place for skeletal remains when burial space is scarce. [1][2]