Black Death Skeletons Found: Remains Of Plague Victims Discovered Buried Under London Railway
13 Skeletons belonging to victims of the Black Death have been unearthed at a construction site for a new London railway.
Archeologists believe the site where the new railway is being built could be a mass Black Death grave and the final resting place of 50,000 people who had the disease.
The skeletons of the Black Death victims will be taken to the Museum of London Archeology for testing and carbon dating. Scientists are hoping to use the Black Death skeletons to map out the disease's DNA in order to combat modern diseases.
"Many biologists are researching ancient diseases in the hope of better understanding modern ones," said Jay Carver to reporters. Carver is the lead archeologist on the Black Death Skeleton project.
The 13 skeletons were found over the last two weeks buried 8-feet below the ground.
Jay Carver told reporters, "The depth of the burials, the pottery found with the skeletons and the way the skeletons have been set out all point towards this being part of the 14th century emergency burial ground."
He added, "We will be undertaking scientific tests on the skeletons over the coming months to establish their cause of death, whether they were plague victims from the 14th century or later London residents, how old they were and perhaps evidence of who they were."
The Black Death swept across Europe from 1348 to 1353, killing half the population. Plague-infested rats carried aboard trade ships spread the disease.
Symptoms of the Black Death include fever, inability to keep food down, extreme pain and black boils that oozed blood and pus. The boils on the body are where the disease got its name, "The Black Death."
This is the third discovery of medieval skeletons in the United Kingdom since December of 2012. The skeleton of the English King Richard III was found under a parking lot in Leicester and last week workers in Scotland found the remains of a medieval knight buried beneath the foundation of a new research building.