Earlier this week, in a residential area of Rome, two men decided to chase a cat through the city streets, a late-night escapade that ended with the discovery of a 2,000-year-old burial chamber. We won’t prejudge what drove the men to chase the furry feline, but as The Guardian has it:

“The cat managed to get into a grotto and we followed the sound of its miaowing,” said. Inside the small opening in the cliff the two men found themselves surrounded by niches dug into the rock similar to those used by the Romans to hold funeral urns, while what appeared to be human bones littered the floor.

Archaeologists pulled in to look at the find dated it to the dawn of the common era, a time at the height of the Roman Empire.

More from Smithsonian.com:

Greek Subway Dig Uncovers Marble Road from Roman Empire