30 March 2014 A.D. Black Death Skeletons in London
30 March 2014 A.D.
Black Death Skeletons in
London
The burial site of the Black Death skeletons, found during Crossrail construction.
Editors. “Black Death Skeletons in
London.” Today in British History. 30 Mar 2014. http://todayinbritishhistory.com/2014/03/black-death-skeletons/. Accessed 3 Feb 2015.
http://todayinbritishhistory.com/page/4/
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Recent
forensic tests conducted on the skeletons unearthed during the London Crossrail
project have revealed that the skeletons were victims of the 14th century Black
Death. In all, 25 skeletons were unearthed from a 5.5m shaft beneath
Charterhouse Square in March 2013.
The burial site of the Black Death skeletons, found during Crossrail construction.
Samples
taken from 12 of the skeletons revealed that four of them contained traces of
the DNA of the Yersinia
pestis, evidence that the medieval Londoners had been exposed
to the Black Death. Radiocarbon dating on the skeletons and on pottery
found buried with them showed that the burial ground was used during two
separate periods that align with medieval records of the Black Death in
England.
Those
records indicate that in the mid-14th century, thousands of Londoners perished
from exposure to the Black Death and were buried in mass graves outside the
City. Its precise location was unknown, but discovery of the burial ground
beneath Charterhouse Square has led archaeologists to believe that it is the
burial ground mentioned in medieval records.
The analysis conducted on
the skeletons revealed much about the lives of 14th century Britons. For
instance, many of the skeletons showed signs of malnutrition, evidence of a
poor diet. Many of the skeletons also showed evidence of back strain and damage,
indicators of the high percentage of medieval persons who worked manual labour.
Ultimately, the discovery provides a glimpse at the hard life lived by much of
the medieval population, even without the added threat of the Black Death.
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