Remains of 16th century houses have been uncovered in Edinburgh's Old Town.

Archaeologists found street frontages and artefacts including pottery, coins and a comb when digging at a site in the Cowgate that has been marked for a £35m hotel development.

The city council's culture leader Richard Lewis said: "This is a significant find as it completes the picture of artefacts and structures archaeologists hoped to find on the site.

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"The dig is in the final phase so this is the last chance for us to discover the secrets that lie in this historic part of the city."

The area was once populated by nobles in palaces but became a Victorian slum, with a 19th-century newspaper blasting houses there as "remarkable only for their filth".

But the site is now being redeveloped, ten years after a major blaze in December 2002 took more than 18 hours to bring under control and caused serious damage to the world heritage site.

Before the fire, the area was home to shops, an amusement arcade, a jazz bar, a comedy venue and Edinburgh University's School of Informatics.

The new development will include shops and a nightclub, hinging on a 250-bedroom Ibis hotel.

(NE)