Noerdlingen, Germany - A mass grave with 50 bodies has been discovered during pipeline-laying work in Germany and archaeologists said Monday that rosary beads, two coins and buttons suggested the dead were French soldiers from the Thirty Years War.

Germany was the battlefield of the 1618-1648 war, in which most European powers took part. The remains were found near Noerdlingen in Bavaria state, the state's Monuments Agency in Munich said. (dpa)