Urban Planning, Ecological Transition, Urban Services and Housing

The work being carried out in Via Laietana has uncovered the remains of seven bodies in tombs from the Roman period and two from the Late Antiquity period. The finds come in addition to those in February, which have been documented, studied and stored in the ICUB facility in Zona Franca for their conservation.

The tombs were found in the vicinity of Plaça Antoni Maura, where the archaeology team, following the indications of the Archaeology Service from Barcelona City Council and the Archaeological and Paleontological Heritage Service from the Government of Catalonia, have conducted a deep excavation of the space where parterres are planned. The exercise was aimed at documenting the large number of overlaying structures which have emerged from various periods.

Beneath the road surface, the old cobblestones and the supporting layers that go with them, various surfaces appeared which occupied this space before the Via Laietana was opened. These were cut with a drillhole, probably from the archaeological work conducted here in 1989 for the revamp to Av. Catedral. The dig carried out around this hole enabled the team to document various walls and strata with materials from the modern, medieval and Roman periods, as well as a silo.

Around a dozen walls from different times have appeared here, overlaying one another and configuring several spaces. Besides these walls, a well from the 18^th to 19^th century came to light, along with a pilaster, stake holes, some surfaces with tiles, bricks and lime mortar, a ceramic slab used to cover an oven, other remnants and three silos from the 9^th and 10^th centuries. The excavation of the silos revealed that one of them cut across two tombs from the Late Antiquity period.

The work is being directed by the archaeologist Joan Garriga Toledo. The excavation of this space does not hamper the correct development of the work to remodel Via Laietana.