Discovery of 18th-century remains at Philly building site gives pause to modern world

     Workers excavate a coffin from a construction site in the Old City neighborhood Thursday in Philadelphia. Crews working on an apartment building in Philadelphia's historic district got a shock last month when their backhoes started hitting coffins and unearthing fully intact human remains. The site was supposed to be a former burial ground from 1707, and all remains were supposedly exhumed in the 1800s and moved to a different cemetery. (Matt Slocum/AP Photo)

    Workers excavate a coffin from a construction site in the Old City neighborhood Thursday in Philadelphia. Crews working on an apartment building in Philadelphia's historic district got a shock last month when their backhoes started hitting coffins and unearthing fully intact human remains. The site was supposed to be a former burial ground from 1707, and all remains were supposedly exhumed in the 1800s and moved to a different cemetery. (Matt Slocum/AP Photo)

    Work halted Thursday afternoon at a construction site in Philadelphia’s Old City neighborhood when human remains were discovered in what was once an 18th-cenrury burial ground. A team of professionals quickly was summoned to assess the findings for historical value before transporting them to their final resting place.

    gravediggerKimberlee Moran, associate teaching professor and director of forensics center at Rutgers-Camden, investigates an 18th-century burial site in Old City. (Emma Lee/WHYY)

    Kimberlee Moran is an associate teaching professor and director of forensics center at Rutgers-Camden.

    NewsWorks Tonight host Dave Heller met her outside the work site, where she and a group of undergraduate students are gaining a unique hands-on experience. You can hear their conversation below.

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