In Granada, a significant city in the Andalusia area of southern Spain, excavations carried out as part of a building's repair uncovered a centuries-old Muslim graveyard.
An archeologist works on human remains, presumably belonging to Muslims Cemetery from the Andalusian Islamic era (711-1492) found during an excavation in Granada, Spain on September 16, 2023.
The almost 700-year Andalusian Islamic dominion, which was eradicated during the reign of the Catholic Monarchs that followed, left behind traces that are currently being sought in and around Granada, the former capital of an emirate that ruled between the 13th and the 15th centuries and was the last known Muslim state in the Iberian Peninsula.
One of the eight Muslim cemeteries in the city was discovered during excavations on the property of a building in the ancient city center of Granada, in the region known as "Bab al-Fukhareen," or Potters' Quarter, according to archaeologist Amjad Suliman, who is researching the Andalusian Islamic civilization.
Suliman stated that two further cemeteries had also been discovered and that a total of roughly 150 Muslims were believed to be interred in the constrained space, adding that they had so far discovered the bones of more than 40 Muslims in the Potters' cemetery.
"Granada was the last place of refuge for Muslims in Andalusia, and the density of burials in the ancient graves unearthed here shows us how high the number of Muslims living at that time was," Suliman explained.
Suliman claimed they discovered three underground layers of graves and numerous pieces of pottery with Arabic inscriptions similar to those found in the Alhambra Palace, which was constructed in the middle of the 13th century in Granada. He also said they were able to determine the human remains belonged to Muslims by examining the manner in which they were buried and the objects around them.
Suliman said that Andalusia has required consulting archaeologists for construction and restoration projects since 1995.
"In the past, human remains found during construction works were either buried again in the ground and built on top of them, or thrown away. Especially in the last 20 years, these works have become much more organized ... done in a controlled manner."
"In the excavations carried out so far, when we count only the documented ones, the remains of more than 10,000 Muslims have been unearthed," he added.
Once their anthropological research is finished, the bones that have been excavated from floors of buildings or from pieces of land are interred in the region's present Muslim cemeteries.
