I also wondered about the graves not being disturbed, the buildings must have had very shallow foundations or none. Perhaps the site was a garden or a park, so the builders might have had a level site to work with & not needed to dig down. If it was built during the Depression or even after the Depression, maybe lots of blokes with wheelbarrows did all the work ...

I'm reminded of a dig in Sydney several decades back. The new building, a Youth Hostel was being built on top of a concrete carpark (also decades old) & an enormous part of very early Sydney was sealed underneath.

The Big Dig Archaeology Education Centre is part of Sydney Harbour YHA in The Rocks heritage precinct of Sydney. The centre facilitates hands-on archaeology educational experiences and opens the archaeological site to the public.

pics of the site & some finds The Big Dig site is underneath a youth hostel in The Rocks area of Sydney, and guests walk through part of it to get to Reception upstairs. There are also a couple of display cases containing some of the objects found in the area. Wonderful!

google maps - The Rocks YHA

panels evoking the old streetscape displayed out on the streets

I was in the Rocks while it was being excavated in 2008 so took pics thru the mesh fence. One pic shows a pit with a broken china bowl poking out of the wall.

I also have pics of the YHA taken 2 years later. The building is in 2 parts, with the ruins in the middle so everyone (public & residents) can walk thru. It was put above the foundations so most of them (all of them??) were preserved.

sandra