Plague Skeletons Halt London City Construction

Medieval plague victims lie beneath the City of London square.

This was the finding by builders constructing London's Crossrail train link.

Seven hundred years after their death, a dozen plague victim skeletons have been unearthed in London, in a discovery dubbed by archeologists to be only the tip of long-lost mass burial ground from the Black Death.

Found two and a half metres under the ground in Charterhouse Square and arranged in neat rows, the bodies were discovered during construction for a Crossrail tunnel shaft that is beside Farringdon station's future ticketing hall.

Tests are required to confirm the skeletons' origin, but the findings should illuminate 14-century life and death in Britain, and aid scientists in their quest to understanding how the plague mutated.

Plague Victims Skeletons Unearthed

Jay Carver, Crossrail's lead archaeologist, said the evidence suggests that the burial ground is from the 14th-century.

"This is a highly significant discovery and at the moment we are left with many questions we hope to answer.

"However, at this stage, the depth of 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."

This could be the first indication of up to 50,000 bodies, according to suggestions by John Stow's 1598 Survey of London.

However, experts today believe this to be an exaggeration, said the Museum of London's Nicholas Elsden. But nevertheless, under the gardens in Charthouse Square could be hundreds more burials.

The Black Death in London author Don Walker said an emergency cemetery is not a common find.

Since the plague eradicated indiscriminately, he said, a good cross-section of people should provide researchers with London's demographic, lifestyle and health at the time.

This isn't the first time Crossrail's construction has unearthed treasures from history. Excavating for tunnels and station across London, 68,000-year-old mammoth bones and amber were among discoveries.

However, Crossrail reassures us that the skeletons pose no risk to the public or workers. Elsden asserted that neither he nor his colleagues would be there otherwise.

Image Credit Crossrail