A suspected World War II bomb, which closed much of the Broadmead area of Bristol for two days was actually a piece of reinforced concrete.
The Broadmead area is being redeveloped
The suspicious object was discovered as builders carried out drilling as part of the development on Wednesday.
A 100-yard cordon was set up around the scene as experts attempted to discover whether the item was a German bomb.
But on Friday night a police spokesman said the operation had revealed only a section of steel-reinforced concrete.
A team from the Royal Engineers was called to the site but, because the "bomb" was buried so deep, they had to painstakingly dig down to it so they could properly examine the object.
The incident was declared a major emergency although police stressed it was just a precautionary measure to allow contingency plans to be used.