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(London) A medieval cemetery containing about 1,300 skeletons has been discovered in the central English city of Leicester, archeologists said Tuesday.

The bones were found during a dig at a site being developed as part of a shopping mall, to cost about $725 million Cdn. University of Leicester archeologists say the find promises to shed new light on the way people lived and died in the Middle Ages.

"We think, probably outside London, this must be one of the largest parish graveyards ever excavated," said Richard Buckley, director of University of Leicester Archaeology Services.

"Archeology will tell us a lot from the rubbish people throw away. We can really learn about the lives they were leading.

"But it's very rare that we get a look at a (whole) population itself. It's quite a tightly dated group."

Buckley said the graveyard was probably used from the 12th century until the demolition of a church at the site in 1573.

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