Construction work at Spaanskasteelplein in Ghent has uncovered the remains of a medieval neighbourhood that had been buried for nearly five centuries beneath the site of the city's former Spanish Castle. The excavation has revealed a cemetery holding more than 200 skeletons, stone church foundations, military quarters, household objects and organic material preserved inside an old waste pit. The find offers a rare, layered look at a district of Ghent that was deliberately destroyed in 1540, after which a fortress was built directly on top of it, sealing much of the earlier settlement beneath its walls for hundreds of years. Vervoort's decision to leave part of the site untouched reflects a growing trend in archaeology, prioritizing future discovery over immediate excavation, trusting that tomorrow's technology will extract far more detail than today's methods allow.
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