MORE than 70 Roman skeletons have been discovered on the site of a former hotel in York.

The grade-II listed building, formerly the Newington Hotel in Mount Vale Drive, has been stripped back by developers to create seven new family houses.

During the renovation developers were surprised to find human remains, and the York Archaeological Trust were called in to assist with the recovery.

The skeletons were found under what used to be the swimming pool in what was an extension to a previously known Roman cemetery further up Mount Vale.

A spokesman for the York Archaeological Trust, said the find was not surprising, given the city’s association with the Roman empire, and yielded dozens of finds.

The excavations lasted for three months and a total of 75 graves were recorded by the archaeological team. Many had been damaged by medieval ploughing and 19th-century construction.

The site lies about 300m from Driffield Terrace, where a previous YAT excavation in 2004 and 2005 famously uncovered the graves of over 30 decapitated Romans, a number of whom were interpreted as possible gladiators.