HERTFORDSHIRE, ENGLAND—BBC News reports that the foundations of the original A.D. 1077 apse were uncovered at St. Albans Cathedral under just three feet of soil. “One of our major aims was to confirm its presence and confirm the abbey was one of the early Norman cathedrals,” said Ross Lane, director of the excavation for the Canterbury Archaeological Trust. The excavation also uncovered approximately 20 graves dating to the eleventh and twelfth centuries. “They are clustered close to the walls in tile-lined tombs,” Lane said. The people in the graves are thought to have either lived in the abbey or been its benefactors in order to have received such honored burial spots. A new visitor center will be built on the site. To read about graffiti in medieval English churches, go to “Letter From England: Writing on the Church Wall.”