Archaeology TheFoxPosts.com

Plague pits containing the remains of at least 1,000 victims have been unearthed in southern Germany. The pits could together form the largest mass grave ever discovered in Europe, archaeologists say. The excavations, which were carried out ahead of construction work in the city of Nuremberg, revealed eight pits each crammed with hundreds of skeletons belonging to adults, children and babies that date to between the late 15th and early 17th centuries. Archaeologists also found pottery shards and silver coins in two of the three pits they have finished excavating. Radiocarbon dating revealed the pottery coincides with plague outbreaks that occurred between 1622 and 1634, while the coins date to around 1619, according to a statement released by the archaeological excavation company In Terra Veritas. "A discovery like that has never happened before and quite honestly, no one had thought this to be possible," Melanie Langbein, of Nuremberg's department for heritage co...

Archaeologists have unearthed the bones of 146 people in the graveyard of a now-demolished medieval abbey in Northern Ireland. While most of these people received full Christian burials, a handful of graves may belong to executed criminals who were denied this treatment. The grave s mostly contained the remains of men, as well as a small number of skeletons belonging to women and children, archaeologists told the BBC . Researchers think the find dates to the 14th or 15th century, but further analysis is needed to confirm this. The vast majority of the burials were orientated west to east, following the medieval Christian belief that — in the words of the late 14th century and early 15th century English priest John Mirk in "Festial" — the deceased would be "readier to see Christ coming out of the east at the Doom" in this position. Some later grave s in the newly discovered grave yard faced north to south, however, possibly as a form of punishment for their occ...