Millions of people in Europe died of the plague in the 14th century, but mass graves of plague victims from this period are extremely rare. Archaeologists have now discovered such a burial site in Lincolnshire, England. 48 men, women and children were buried close together. This is Britain’s first known pest victim mass grave in rural areas – and it sheds new light on the consequences of the plague for the rural population.
The “Black Death” was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history. It is estimated that between 75 and 200 million people in Europe died during this epidemic. The plague was particularly widespread in Great Britain in 1348 and 1349. “A third to half of the population died within less than two years,” said Hugh Willmott of the University of Sheffield and his team. The outbreak of the plague continued again and again in the following years.
“Despite this fact, mass graves of plague victims are surprisingly rare in England,” said the researchers. The few include two such graves in London, where the dead were buried close together in long rows. In rural areas, however, there have been no finds of such mass graves from the time of the Black Death. “This is why it was assumed that the rural communities with their smaller population were better able to deal with the deaths and did not need mass burials,” explained Willmot and his colleagues. “It seemed as if they continued to bury their deceased in the most normal way possible.”
Mass grave on the monastery grounds
But now a spectacular find in Lincolnshire, England, refutes these assumptions. To their surprise, the archaeologists discovered numerous graves during excavations on the site of the former monastery complex of Thornton Abbey. “Instead of the expected structural relics, the excavation revealed human skeletons,” they report. “The arrangement of the bones indicates that they were all buried at once instead of individually.” The dead lay close together and in eight overlapping rows, with the feet of one row protruding between the heads of the next row. So far 48 of these dead have been recovered, including men, women and 27 children. All the dead were carefully placed and wrapped in shrouds, but had no personal belongings or grave goods, as Willmot and his team report.
According to data, the dead in this mass grave date from the 14th century – and thus from the time when black death raged in England. According to the researchers, historical records from monasteries near Thornton Abbey report massive deaths from the plague in 1349 in the region. In order to find out whether the dead found in the mass grave actually died from the plague, Wilmot and his team had tooth samples from 16 individuals analyzed for DNA traces of the pest pathogen Yersinia pestis. The researchers found what they were looking for in a sample. They conclude that the finds at Thornton Abbey are a mass grave of plague victims.
“Unique in England”
“Finds of medieval mass burials are relatively rare and are therefore of national importance,” say the archaeologists. “However, the Thornton Abbey mass grave is unique in England and makes a decisive contribution to understanding the deadliest pandemic of the last millennium.” The newly discovered mass grave is special in two respects: In contrast to all other previously known grave sites of plague victims, it is not in a city, but in a rural setting. This shows that the communities there were overwhelmed by the devastating effects of the plague. “A mass grave represents a catastrophic failure to deal with the dead,” said Willmot and his team. Contrary to previous assumptions, one had to resort to the last resort of a mass grave in the countryside during the Black Death.
(Video: University of Sheffield)
The second peculiarity is the location of the mass grave within the monastery walls. Because so many women and children were among the dead, the researchers consider it likely that they were villagers, not members of the monastery. Under normal circumstances, such a burial of secular dead on the monastery grounds would be very unusual, as there were usually separate cemeteries near the village church. In this case, however, the mass grave could indicate the presence of a previously unrecognized monastic institution: an ecclesiastical hospital.
As the archaeologists report, there is a historical document mentioning such a hospital in connection with Thornton Abbey. So far, however, it was unclear exactly where this hospital was located. “In view of our findings, it seems credible that this hospital existed here and that it became central to the treatment and burial of a large number of local plague victims in the 14th century,” said Willmot and his colleagues.
Source: University of Sheffield; Specialist article: Antiquity, doi: 10.15184 / aqy.2019.213