<story><title>Ancient tombs and statues unearthed beneath Notre Dame Cathedral</title><url>https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/14/ancient-tombs-statues-notre-dame-cathedral-archaeological-dig</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>giantg2</author><text>&amp;quot;We uncovered all these riches just 10-15cm under the floor slabs. It was completely unexpected.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;They never did any scans? I remember being a kid and learning about how some old churches would entomb people directly under the floor (not catacombs).</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>asdff</author><text>It doesn&amp;#x27;t seem like the notre dame was the best curated cathedral based on my readings since the fire. The alarm system failed and was far from modern, actually very crude with the guard physically walking to where the fire was reported (which wasn&amp;#x27;t even where it was), vs it automatically calling the fire department and a specialized team directly and not some half asleep security guard on the night shift. The restoration team working on the roof at the time were all smoking cigarettes and investigators still haven&amp;#x27;t been able to rule out a mere cigarette causing the blaze. No sprinklers to speak of despite similar fires affecting similar buildings and causing similar billions in damage. No other preventative measures as far as i&amp;#x27;m aware; other cathedrals have been covering their beams with fire retardant material. The state owns all the cathedrals but doesn&amp;#x27;t insure them, so restoration currently has been reliant on donors, and to me its still an open question if it will ever be completely restored as planned (since some donors have even backed out). The fact the building survived seems to be because firefighters guarded the towers and allowed the roof to burn itself out on top of the stone vault which contained it.</text></comment>
<story><title>Ancient tombs and statues unearthed beneath Notre Dame Cathedral</title><url>https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/14/ancient-tombs-statues-notre-dame-cathedral-archaeological-dig</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>giantg2</author><text>&amp;quot;We uncovered all these riches just 10-15cm under the floor slabs. It was completely unexpected.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;They never did any scans? I remember being a kid and learning about how some old churches would entomb people directly under the floor (not catacombs).</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Swizec</author><text>&amp;gt; some old churches would entomb people&lt;p&gt;I remember visiting the Westminster Abbey. It’s full of famous dead people. Marked floor tiles and all.&lt;p&gt;Chaucer, Darwin, Newton, Dickens, lots of kings and queens all right under your feet.</text></comment>