Discovery of burial pit containing 123 bodies stuns archaeologists

A team of archaeologists from the University of Leicester have made a discovery that is as stunning as it is mysterious. While embarking on excavations in preparation for the construction of a heritage center in the garden of Leicester Cathedral, England, researchers came across a bone. Then two. Then three. In total, the skeletons of 123 individuals were unearthed, making this burial pit the largest ever explored in the UK.

And that’s not all. The bones have been analyzed, and they are not very young. Scientists estimate that they date from the beginning of the 12th century.^e century, more than 800 years ago. The areas around Leicester Cathedral were already home to a whole host of skeletons unearthed by previous excavations. Some even went back to the 11th^e century, and burials stopped in the 19th^e. Traces of Anglo-Saxon dwellings and an ancient Roman sanctuary had also been previously discovered.

This new discovery challenges scientists even more. Firstly, by its size and the number of individuals found in the same place, but also because it represents a formidable source of historical information, recounting mysterious periods littered with drama that it is difficult to imagine.

Famine, epidemic or other cause?

A question has been on the mind of the scientific team since this discovery: what could have caused the death of these 123 individuals buried at the same period? The bones show no traces of violence, ruling out conflict or mass executions. rapporte The Guardian. Two possibilities are then mentioned: a devastating famine or a still unknown epidemic.

At first, researchers assumed that the grave could bear witness to the Black Death, the bubonic plague epidemic that devastated Europe in 1348. Radiocarbon dating of the bones swept aside this hypothesis: the bodies were deposited in the pit 150 years before the appearance of the Black Death in England. This dating took the team by surprise, as no specific outbreak is documented for this period in Leicester.

The study of the bodies shows that the burial did not take place in haste or panic. The corpses appear to have been prepared by their families and wrapped in shrouds before being transported by cart to the grave. The absence of clothing and personal items could indicate controlled management of deaths by a central authority, possibly to prevent the spread of an unknown disease. Samples of the human remains have been sent to the Francis Crick Institute in London to unravel this mystery.