Human bones believed to date back to the late 18th or early 19th century have been found in the grounds of Trinity College Dublin, on the site of the extension of the Berkeley Library.
The bones are believed to be the remains of bodies hastily and carelessly buried after medical students carried out anatomical work on them.
The archaeologists on the site have been surprised and puzzled by the number of bones of children found so far.
The discovery of the first bones was made last Monday, but every day since, more are being dug up. It is not known how many bodies have been found so far, but it could be about 20. The director of the dig is Ms Helen Kehoe.
Ms Linzi Simpson, an archaeologist working on the site, said: "The bodies were buried in shallow trenches, about a metre deep."
She said this was very shallow for burial purposes, which was unusual. The whole process would have been illegal, but in those days "people turned a blind eye to it".
It was difficult to know the number of bodies found so far because many were dismembered, with maybe heads gone or limbs sawn off. They knew it must have been done by medical students because of the way they were dismembered.
The bones are to receive further detailed examination and they are expected to give much medical information about the time.
"There is a great interest in them: it is a very interesting find," said Ms Simpson.
What has really astounded the archaeologists and the medical people is that in the middle of all the remains were two massive camel bones. What were camels doing in Dublin at the end of the 18th century? That is a real poser for the experts. Maybe they were a form of public transport? It was probably a faster and more efficient form than the present gridlock the capital is experiencing.
Ms Simpson said the excavations would last for as long as it took. In this case, unlike some other digs, the JCBs "are not looking over our shoulders".
When the bodies have all been examined they will probably be reburied in a graveyard where the college has a plot.
The excavation of the big development sites in the old city is proving to be very productive.
Ms Simpson was director of the excavation at Copper Alley in Temple Bar which found evidence indicating that Anglo-Saxons occupied Dublin before the Vikings arrived in 841.
That dig took place between 1996-1998.