Bolivian Mass Grave Discovered

<![CDATA[In the city of Potosi, Bolivia, a mass grave has been discovered by construction workers that could be about 500 years old. In the grave were the remains of about 400 to 500 people. The grave is thought to have been from a mining accident during the Spanish colonial era. In terms of elevation, Potosi is one of the highest cities in the world, sitting 13,420 feet (4090 metres) above sea level. The city was founded on April 1, 1545, and UNESCO's World Heritage Committee recently added the city to the List of World Heritage in Danger, on June 24, 2014. This is due to the uncontrolled mining operations in the area. For a long while, the city has produced a great amount of silver, and it was for this reason the Spanish colonized the area and set up a colonial mint there. Potosi became very important for the Spanish, as it was the major supply of silver for Spain's conquests in the New World. The silver was transported to Spain by way of llamas and mules that would take the silver to the Pacific Coast, where it was the shipped to Panama, and then taken aboard the Spanish treasure fleets. The mine workers for the Spanish silver mint were indigenous as well as from Africa. They were either put to work as slaves or as indentured servants. It is estimated that over eight million in all have died working in the mines. The construction workers were working on a new building in the "El Minero" district when they found the remains. They had no training in excavation or archaeology, but they estimated that over 400 remains were in that grave. Researchers at the Tomas Frias University in Bolivia, Sergio Fidel and others, became involved in the project when word spread that the construction workers were carelessly throwing the bones into a heap so they could continue with their construction efforts. He states that the Cerro Rico (Rich Hill) mountain, in which the mining took place, was basically the economic center of the Spanish's expedition in the new world. The grave is a common one and nothing special, since it was just 6 feet deep, with the bodies scattered over an area of four by four meters. Research on the area and the human remains have only just begun, but researchers are weighing in on what happened to these people. Some researchers state that in the grave are the remains of hundreds of slaves and indentured servants, local and overseas, who died in separate incidents related to the intense conditions of working in a mine. Others state that the grave could be linked to the known collapse of a reservoir that killed over 2000 people in the 1600s. The workers could have also died from an unknown sudden catastrophe. It will be a while until the world knows for sure.

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