Possible Victims of 17th-Century Plague Uncovered

News August 13, 2015

(Copyright Crossrail Ltd.)
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(Copyright Crossrail Ltd.)

LONDON, ENGLAND—Continuing work on the Crossrail high-speed rail line for southern England has kept archaeologists in London busy at Bedlam burial ground, the site of the new Liverpool Street station—more than 3,500 hundred skeletons have been found this year alone. New images and a 360-degree video of the bodies of 30 possible victims of the Great Plague of 1665 uncovered at the burial ground have revealed that all the bodies were likely buried on the same day. “This mass burial is very likely a reaction to a catastrophic event,” project archaeologist Jay Carver told Culture 24, explaining why the grave differs from the individual burials also uncovered in the cemetery. To read about another massive graveyard and what it reveals about conditions in 19th-century London, go to “Haunt of the Resurrection Men.”

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