Black death burial site uncovered
Black Death burial Skeletons unearthed during excavations for a new London rail line are victims of the Black Death pandemic that swept western Europe in the 14th century, DNA tests reveal.
Researchers say the skeletons' teeth contain DNA traces of the Yersinia pestis bacterium, which was responsible for the Black Death plague.
The finding solves a 600-year-old mystery over the location of an emergency burial site for the tens of thousands of people killed in medieval London by the "Black Death" plague.
The breakthrough follows the discovery under Charterhouse Square in Farringdon last year of 13 skeletons, wrapped in shrouds, laid out in neat rows during excavations for London's new Crossrail rail line.
Last year archaeologists working on the site said the remains probably belonged to victims of the plague, which killed about a third of England's population following its outbreak in 1348.
Historical records have suggested up to 50,000 victims were buried in a mass grave outside London city at the time - one of two emergency burial grounds established at the time.
One has been found at East Smithfield, and it now appears the second was in London's Farringdon district, near the Barbican Centre, which at the time of the plague was just outside the city boundary.
Archaeologists have found a further 12 more skeletons at the site and will further excavate the area in July see if more bodies are buried nearby.
"Analysis of the Crossrail find has revealed an extraordinary amount of information allowing us to solve a 660-year-old mystery," says lead archaeologist Jay Carver.
"This discovery is a hugely important step forward in documenting and understanding Europe's most devastating pandemic," he adds. "Until Crossrail's discovery, archaeologists had been unable to confirm the story [of the second burial site]."
Some of the victims were buried in 1348-50, and others in the early to mid-1400s, carbon dating shows.
Testing of the remains shows 13 of the skeletons were male, three female, and two children. The gender was undetermined in the other seven skeletons.
The testing also reveals information about their lives.
Many had serious spinal damage, suggesting they had carried out heavy manual labour. Some had injuries to their upper bodies consistent with being involved in violent altercations.
One of the victims had also been a vegetarian; many had suffered from malnutrition.
Experts say 40 per cent of the skeletons were from people who had grown up outside London, possibly as far north as Scotland, showing that 14th century London was as cosmopolitan as the British capital today.
Carver says the find has relevance for modern disease research.
"What's really exciting is the bringing together of many different lines of evidence to create a picture of such a devastating world event as the Black Death," he says.
"Historians, archaeologists, microbiologists, and physicists are all working together to chart the origins and development of one of the world's worst endemic diseases and help today's researchers in ancient and modern diseases better understand the evolution of these bacteria."