At least 12 bodies were found in a centuries-old burial vault under Washington Square Park

On Wendesday, workers on a century-old water main in New York's Washington Square Park uncovered a roughly 200-year-old burial vault containing the remains of at least a dozen people, according to Fox News.

The workers were renovating the infrastructure for the Department of Design and Construction (DDC), which is installing catch basins, sewer manholes, and traffic lights in the area, reports DNAinfo.com.

The vault measured eight feet deep, 15 feet wide and 20 feet long, as noted by Newsday.com.

Antrhopologists and archaeologists will be called to identify and analyze the remains, but for now construction plans will continue around the site.

As the findings may be historically significant, the area around the vault has been blocked off. A spokesman from the DDC told DNAinfo.com they were "re-designing the work to accommodate findings of importance."

"Working together with the Landmarks Preservation Commision, DDC will evaluate the extent and significance of the vault and its contents," said Commissioner Feniosky Peña-Mora in a statement.

The find was unexpected, but not altogether surprising, considering that Washington Square Park, like many New York parks, was a burial ground in centuries past.

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