Researchers have dug up the remains of dozens of people believed to have been African-American prisoners forced into labor on plantations in Texas over a century ago.
Archaeologists have exhumed more than 90 sets of remains in an unmarked cemetery in Fort Bend County, Texas, a sprawling suburb just outside of Houston.
Experts announced on Monday that the remains most likely are those of black forced laborers.
The crews began digging in April as part of a project to build a $59million career and technical center on the site in the town of Sugar Land, according to KHOU-TV.
Aside from human remains, the crews also discovered other artifacts, including chains.
‘Some of these chains, especially the ones that date prior to the Industrial Revolution, some of them have swivels on them, which were more than likely utilized in chain gangs,’ said archaeologist Reign Clark.
The bodies are believed to have been buried between 1878 and 1910.
