Check out the odd things unearthed on construction sites

Dig deep enough on a construction site and you might be amazed at what you find. In fact, if there is anywhere destined to uncover hidden treasures, you are in the right place. Large-scale ground excavations, soil stripping and deep foundation works disturb layers of land untouched for centuries - or even millennia. In urban areas, the earth beneath our feet is often a patchwork of human history, with one era quietly stacked on top of another. Old wells sit beneath modern car parks - Roman pottery lies under suburban lawns - forgotten rubbish pits become archaeological time capsules.

One of the most remarkable categories of finds on building sites is the remains of Ice Age animals. Mammoth bones, giant deer antlers and even ancient rhinoceros skeletons have been discovered during routine excavation works across the UK.

In 2021, for example, a housing development in Devon came to a temporary standstill when workers unearthed a cluster of mammoth bones believed to be more than 30,000 years old. Similar finds have appeared in Swindon, Norfolk and the East of England - areas once rich with Ice Age mammals before the landscape became farmland.

Such discoveries capture the imagination because they remind us how dramatically the natural world has changed. What is now a development plot or motorway junction was once a habitat for creatures that no human ever lived to see.

On site, these finds cause a ripple of excitement. Excavators pause. Archaeologists arrive. Construction turns briefly into palaeontology. It is a collision of timelines - a modern industry meeting a prehistoric world beneath its tracks.

Roman Coins, Old Wells and Unexpected Architecture

The Roman presence in Britain has also left a trail of surprises beneath construction sites. Coins, pottery fragments, brooches and even entire building foundations have emerged during modern works.

Contractors working on underground services in central London have uncovered Roman bathhouse walls beneath modern pavements. Roadworks in the Midlands have revealed traces of Roman roads still perfectly aligned after nearly 2,000 years. And in some cases, small hoards of coins, probably hidden during periods of unrest, resurface in the least expected places.

Old wells are another frequent discovery. Builders trenching for drainage often hit brick-lined shafts, some capped, some forgotten. These wells can date back centuries and finding one always sparks curiosity about who built it, who used it and why it was abandoned.

Among the most atmospheric finds are the strange glass bottles of the Victorian era, many with “POISON” moulded boldly into the glass, sometimes ribbed so they could be identified in the dark. These bottles once contained arsenic, carbolic acid, laudanum, mercury-based treatments and household chemicals so hazardous that the packaging had to scream danger.

Construction workers uncover these distinctive bottles during urban groundworks, often near old rubbish pits, demolished workshops or former allotments. Some were domestic items used for cleaning - others held medicines that, in hindsight, were more dangerous than the illnesses they claimed to cure.

Each bottle tells a story, one of an age when industrial chemistry was booming, but health and safety barely existed. What makes them fascinating is how normal they once were and where what feels sinister today was commonplace in Victorian homes.

Pottery, Pipes and Unexpected Personal Items

Other finds emerge with a more domestic charm. Clay pipes, once smoked widely across the UK, are a frequent discovery, often broken but instantly recognisable with their tapered stems. Fragments of blue-and-white pottery turn up in garden plots reworked for extensions. Occasionally, workers find old children’s toys, buttons, coins and personal items lost long before modern building records existed.

One memorable category is the “witch bottles” of the 17th and 18th centuries, ceramic jars filled with pins, hair and other materials, buried under thresholds to ward off evil. These turn up surprisingly often under old homes in East Anglia and London. What begins as a routine underpinning job can quickly become an encounter with centuries-old superstition.

Construction work in cities heavily affected during wartime often reveals remnants of the 20th century's most turbulent events. In London, Manchester and coastal towns, groundworkers have discovered old air raid shelters, unexploded ordnance and steel components from bombed structures.

Unexploded devices still trigger emergency evacuations today. Although rare, these finds remind us how recent - and close - some history still feels. Even small items, such as ration tins or military badges, bring a human dimension to excavation work, reconnecting present-day developments with stories of resilience and loss.

Protecting the Past While Building the Future

Modern construction doesn’t just bulldoze its way through history. When significant finds emerge, archaeologists work closely with contractors to document, preserve or relocate artefacts. This collaboration ensures progress doesn’t erase the past and the past doesn’t bring progress to a halt.

The relationship may occasionally cause delays, but it enriches projects with cultural value and often becomes part of their story. New housing developments proudly report their prehistoric discoveries. Commercial buildings incorporate artefacts into lobbies or displays. The ground gives up its secrets and construction helps bring them back into the light.

The fascination with construction finds comes down to one universal truth: every site has a past. Beneath office blocks are medieval alleyways. Beneath supermarkets lie ancient fields. Beneath housing estates are stories of mammoths, Romans, Victorians and wartime families.

Construction exposes those layers and gives us a glimpse into worlds we didn’t know were there. Each discovery, big or small, reminds us that we are temporary custodians of the land, building on foundations laid long before we arrived.

In an industry focused on the future, these unexpected encounters with the past remind us that every place has a story, and sometimes it takes a digger, a trench and a curious crew to uncover it.