Archaeologists have dug up the remains of more than 1,500 people, many of them believed to have died in an epidemic, buried in a 19th century mass grave while excavating as part of a city development project in Osaka in western Japan.

Officials at the Osaka City Cultural Properties Association studying the remains said Wednesday that they believe they are of young people who died in the late 1800s. The Umeda Grave, one of seven historical burial sites in Japan's bustling merchant city of Osaka, was unearthed as part of a redevelopment project near a main train station.