Utility workers in Lima, Peru, uncovered two pre-Incan tombs in a single day while digging trenches for an underground gas network, officials confirmed this week.

The discovery is part of a long history of archaeological finds made during public works projects in the capital, as reported by Fox News.

The crew, employed by the energy company Cálidda, made the find during recent excavation work.

Archaeologists later confirmed that both tombs belonged to the Chancay culture, which existed in Peru between 1000 and 1470 A.D., predating the Inca Empire that spanned from about 1400 to 1533 A.D.

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One of the tombs was empty. The other contained the skeletal remains of a male estimated to be around 1,000 years old.

Archaeologists said the remains were found in a torn cloth bundle with the skeleton in a seated position, knees drawn against the chest. Alongside the remains were four clay vessels and three artifacts made from pumpkin shells.

José Aliaga, an archaeologist working at the site, told the Associated Press that the vessels still displayed some of their original black, white, and red coloring and carried iconography linked to the Chancay culture. “

[It] allow[s] us to establish a connection with the pre-Incan Chancay culture,” Aliaga said.

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Aliaga noted that Lima is unusual among Latin American capitals for the frequency of archaeological discoveries during infrastructure work. “Lima is unique among Latin American capitals, in that various archaeological finds are unearthed during nearly every civil project,” he said.

Local resident Flor Prieto, who passed the excavation site with her 7-year-old daughter, said she had not realized the area had once been inhabited.

“I always thought they were paths where no one had lived,” she told the AP. “But now I know that people older than the Incas have lived there … It feels so exciting.”

The find adds to the more than 2,200 archaeological discoveries Cálidda has made in the past 20 years while working on public utility projects in Lima.

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Earlier in June, workers unearthed a preserved female mummy during the same gas line installation project. That skeleton, still retaining small amounts of brown hair, was buried just 20 inches below the surface.

Officials say both newly discovered tombs and their contents are now under the care of archaeologists for further study and preservation.

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