On January 8, 1996, Merced Guimarães dos Anjos, a mother of three, watched as construction workers began renovating part of her home in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The house, built in 1866, was the first property she had ever owned after saving money for six years.
Within hours of digging beneath the floor, the workers uncovered something unexpected—human bones.
At first, they assumed the remains belonged to animals. However, Merced became suspicious after discovering what appeared to be a complete adult human tooth among the debris.
“I told the worker, ‘Those are not dog teeth; they are human teeth,’” Merced later told BBC News Brazil.
Soon afterward, she found smaller teeth belonging to a child.
“I realized they were a child's teeth. I started crying, and everyone at the site fell silent.”
A Forgotten Cemetery
As more broken bones emerged, Merced carefully collected them in boxes while neighbors speculated about what might have happened on the property.
The mystery was solved when a local historian arrived with an old map.
“You are living on top of a cemetery,” he told her. “This was the burial ground for enslaved Africans.”
Merced had unknowingly discovered the Pretos Novos Cemetery, a burial site used between 1770 and 1830, where historians believe nearly 40,000 enslaved Africans were buried.
Although historians had long known the cemetery existed through church records, its exact location had been lost as Rio de Janeiro expanded over the centuries.
A Dark Chapter in History
The cemetery was located near Valongo Wharf, where slave ships arriving from Africa unloaded hundreds of thousands of enslaved people.
According to UNESCO, nearly 900,000 Africans entered Brazil through Valongo Wharf between the late 18th century and 1831, making it one of the largest slave ports in the Americas.
Over more than three centuries, historians estimate that 4.8 million Africans were forcibly taken to Brazil, making it the country that received the largest number of enslaved Africans during the transatlantic slave trade.
Many died during the brutal Atlantic crossing, while others died shortly after arriving from disease, exhaustion, or harsh conditions. Those who died were often buried anonymously in mass graves such as Pretos Novos.
Preserving History
Initially, Merced did not know what to do after discovering the remains beneath her home.
Over time, historians, archaeologists, and members of the public began visiting the site, recognizing its historical importance.
In 2005, Merced and other supporters founded the Pretos Novos Research and Memory Institute (IPN) to preserve the site and educate future generations about the history of slavery in Brazil.
Today, visitors can view archaeological remains beneath a glass floor, explore exhibitions, and learn about the transatlantic slave trade through books, historical documents, and educational programs.
Merced believes the site is more than a cemetery.
“These were not ordinary graves,” she said. “They were mass burial pits where bodies were thrown together.”
Church records show that many of those buried were never identified by name. Instead, records often listed only the date of death, the slave ship they arrived on, or the name of the slave owner.
A Living Memorial
Now 69 years old, Merced continues to live in the same house while helping manage the institute built around the discovery.
More than 300,000 visitors have toured the site, which has become an important memorial to the millions of Africans who suffered during the transatlantic slave trade.
What began as a routine home renovation has become one of Brazil's most significant archaeological discoveries, ensuring that the stories of thousands of forgotten victims are remembered rather than lost to history.
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