10.2.2015 Over 200 skeletons after Paris supermarket
Categories: Calendar , Nálezy nejenom s detektorem v západní Evropě
More than 200 skeletons have been discovered in a medieval mass grave under a supermarket in the middle of the French capital. Archaeologists were unsure how they died and why the bodies were placed there.
The gruesome discovery was made under the Monoprix supermarket on Rue Sebastopol in Paris' second arrondissement, which stands on the site of a medieval hospital that was demolished in the 18th century. Archaeologists were able to look under the building when the supermarket's management decided to carry out extensive remediation work.
We also wrote about the mass burial site here: Archaeological News
The hundreds of skeletons belong to men, women and children. They were precisely lined up next to each other and buried neatly deep in several floors. The archaeologists and the store management were completely taken aback by such a large burial site. "We expected to find a few bones. But such a mass grave? That was a shock to us," said supermarket manager Pascal Roy.
Earlier, the same site had released skeletons. When new buildings were being built on the site of the former hospital, a few bodies were found. They were moved to another location. But no other burial pits were discovered at the time.
Bodies were discovered in eight different pits, with the first seven containing the remains of between five and twenty individuals. But it was the eighth pit that was the most surprising. More than 150 skeletons were spread over two rows.
When and under what circumstances the people died is still unknown. But the evidence so far points to a sudden and mass death. It could have been an epidemic. "The fact that so many people were buried together and the grave is so large points to the fact that there was a crisis and there was probably nowhere to bury them all at once," said Isabelle Abadie, who led the dig.
Paris was hit by several plague epidemics in the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Then in the seventeenth century, locals battled smallpox. "The crisis could then have resulted in a widespread epidemic or famine. Such situations have occurred several times in the past, not only in France," Abadie added.
Experts planned to carry out a thorough DNA analysis on the skeletons found to find out exactly what kind of people they were and where they came from.
Sources: www.france24.com, www.zmescience.com, www.medievalists.net
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