In Germany, archaeologists found a mass burial with about 1,000 skeletons

German archaeologists have found a mass burial of plague victims with about 1,000 skeletons

In Terra Veritas

A mass grave containing about a thousand skeletons was found in Germany. According to archaeologists, it may be the largest excavated in Europe.

The remains were discovered in Nuremberg during an archaeological survey before the construction of residential buildings, informs CNN.

Archaeologists unearthed eight “plague pits”, each of which contained several hundred bodies. In their opinion, in total, up to 2 thousand skeletons may be buried in them – taking into account the ones already found.

Due to the high density of burials, archaeologists had to work on improvised bridges.

“These people were not buried in a regular cemetery, although there are special plague cemeteries in Nuremberg. This means that there were a large number of dead who had to be buried in a short period of time without following Christian burial customs.” Melanie Langbein from the Department of Heritage Protection in Nuremberg said.

Therefore, she believes that exactly plague is the most likely explanation for these mass burials.

According to the words Langbein, Nuremberg has suffered from plague outbreaks about every 10 years since the 14th century.

With the help of radiocarbon analysis, it was possible to determine that one mass burial dates back to the late 1400s – early 1600s. Archaeologists also found fragments of pottery and coins, which indicate a later period within the specified time period.

In addition, researchers discovered a note from 1634, which describes in detail the outbreak of the plague, which claimed more than 15 thousand lives in 1632-1633. It says that almost 2,000 people were buried near the Church of St. Sebastian, which was on the site of the current excavations.

The researchers concluded that the older remains probably date back to the 1632-1633 epidemic. It was worse than the previous ones because of the Thirty Years’ War, during which the city was surrounded by troops.

“Personally, I expect the number of remains to reach around 2,000 or even more, which would make this mass burial the largest in Europe.” – said Julian Dekker, whose company is conducting excavations.

The researchers say that the analysis of the remains will help them to comprehensively study the population of Nuremberg at the time.

“Using statistical methods, we can examine the size and demographics of a city using the same tools as a modern census panel — looking at percentages of children to adults, women to men, and overall health. Technically, we can even to find out what the percentage of shulg was at that time” Decker said.

The researchers also plan to create an exhibition dedicated to the remains. However, it will be possible to organize it no earlier than the fall of 2025.

We will remind, in Italy discovered a copper age necropolis with 22 tombs.