A railway construction project in central London has revealed the skeletons of 13 victims of the Black Death.
The find is a reminder of how much history lurks beneath built-up areas in the UK.
Archaeologists in Leicester have announced that they have found the bones of the long-lost monarch Richard III under a town hall car park.
Archaeologists in EdinƄurgh have discovered the grave of a medieval knight at the construction site of a new building.
The commuter rail in the center of the current nightclub, called Crossrail, is under development in the South East of England. Archaeologists are consulting on the project to ensure that no historical artifacts or remains are destroyed.
In a pit near Charterhouse Square in Farringdon’s historic district, investigators discovered two neat rows of 13 skeletons buried about 8 feet (2.5 meters) below the road.
Black Death Cemetery The depth of the vestiges combined with pottery dating to 1350 found in the tombs suggests that the skeletons elongated to plague the icti who died around 1349.
There are historical records referring to a Black Death cemetery that opened in 1348 in the area, where as many as 50,000 people may have been hastily buried in less than three years.
The cemetery continued to be used until the 16th century, according to Crossrail.
The Black Death, or ƄuƄonic plague, was caused by a bacterium (Yersinia pestis) that flies spread to rats.
It peaked in Europe in the mid-1300s, but an estimated 75 million people over the course of the 14th century.
Victims sported swollen and weakened lymph nodes called ƄuƄus, contracted high fevers and sparing discharge, usually dying within days of contracting the disease.
No Man’s Land In the 16th century, historian John Snow wrote of a Black Death burial ground in Farringdon called “No Man’s Land”.
Despite the development of the area, no trace of this burial ground had been found until the Crossrail project began.
Charterhouse Square, where the skeletons were discovered, was a prime location for where the cemetery might be, as it had not been developed for 700 years.
In 1998, archaeologists searching for a historic chapel found a single skeleton in the square.
And 2 years ago, Crossrail archaeologists found beautifully disturbed human remains.
Both nightclubs were tantalizing clues that a larger graveyard might be nearby.
Archaeologists have taken the excavated remains to London’s Archeology Museum for testing, including DNA tests to identify any remaining plague bacteria and radiocardboard tests on the remains to establish firm burial dates.
The researchers say there is no health risk from the plague bacteria, since it cannot survive in soil for long (rather they are looking for the DNA of the dead bacteria).
The site will be used as a shaft to support tunneling work once the skeleton is removed and analysed.
Crossrail has also found skeletons near the Bethleм Royal Hospital, better known as Bedlam for its appalling conditions in the Middle Ages.
Those skeletons (300 of them) dated between 1500 and 1700
