Builders find 11,000 year old rib bone at construction site

Builders made a strange discovery while digging at the construction site of a Vredenburg car park in Utrecht - an old bone of a large mammal. The bone is estimated to be around 11 thousand years old and is believed to be the rib bone of a red deer.

CU2030, the project organization behind the renovation of the station area, announced this on Wednesday.

The discovery was made while the builders were digging the fifth level of underground parking, at a depth of about 12 meters. The bone was taken to the University of Utrecht to be examined by geologists.

This is not the first time that animal bones are discovered during construction. While building the Hoog Catharijne in 1972 a deer antler was found at a depth of seven meters. This sort of individual discoveries are made at deeper levels every now and again. Geologists and builders regularly examine the soil structure at different depths.