Archaeologist Elena Morán was speaking during the international congress “Slavery of yesterday and today: Servitudes, rebellions and oppressions”, taking place in Lisbon, where she spoke about the discovery, in 2009, of the 158 skeletons that the investigation later revealed to be enslaved Africans.

The skeletons were found in an urban dump, in Vale da Gafaria, during construction work on a parking lot.

These people would have lived in the 15th century in Lagos, an Algarve city that was the first in Europe where slaves from Africa disembarked.

The skeletons are the subject of research at the Department of Forensic Anthropology at the University of Coimbra, the results of which are now part of a global database, said Elena Morán.

The researcher said that the study is making it possible to confirm the origin of these human beings, and also the poor health of the majority of the skeletons analysed, whether due to malnutrition, traumatic impacts or episodes of violence.

Despite not ruling out the possibility of there being more bodies in the place where these 158 were found, Elena Morán said that excavations would not resume.

“There may be other bones, in an uncertain number, but we have no intention of digging more,” she said.

The archaeologist indicated that the best way to honour enslaved people is to erect a memorial in the city, close to the area where the bones were discovered.

Elena Morán said that she would like the memorial to be inaugurated next year and mentioned that the jury for the ideas competition has already been chosen, making it part of the artists who participated in the project for Lisbon, which has been waiting for seven years to move forward.