Excavations for the Crossrail project in London have unearthed skeletons from people buried during the 14th and 15th centuries, believed to have died from the Black Death.
The skeletons of 13 men, three women, and two children were discovered under Charterhouse Square in Farringdon, with the area just outside the city boundary at the time could have been the location of an emergency burial ground. Such a site has been referenced in historical documents, but its location has long remained a mystery.
The discovery of these bodies may imply that thousands more may be buried nearby, with the plague arriving on British shores in 1348, and is believed to have wiped out up to 60% of the population at the time. A community excavation project has been scheduled for July to analyse the surrounding areas to determine the scale of the cemetery.
Carbon dating of 10 of the bodies showed that they had been buried in three layers, coinciding with outbreaks of the Black Death in London in 1348, 1361, and 1433. Four of the skeletons had remnants of the Yersinia pestis “plague” bacteria on their teeth.
The discoveries will be featured in a Channel 4 documentary Return Of The Black Death.
