As archaeologists combed through the garden adjacent to Leicester Cathedral in England, they stumbled upon a narrow, vertical shaft that revealed a gruesome discovery: a mass burial pit that contained the skeletal remains of 123 children, women, and men.
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Researchers have indicated that this incredible find is the largest burial of bodies found in one mass grave to date in the United Kingdom.
While archaeologists were stunned by the amount of corpses strewn inside the pit, a few ideas popped into their minds as to their fate. The first thought as to why they were there: a massacre of mass proportions. Upon further investigation, that outcome was ruled out due to the bones not revealing any injuries or wounds that would result from a physical attack.
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Archaeologists were able to rule out a mass massacre as the cause of the bodies being buried in the pit. Due to the historical time frame, plagues, illnesses, and famine would have ravaged England, particularly between the 10th and 12th centuries, as noted in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles: nearly 200 years of disease brought on my fevers, filth, and lack of food.
"Their bones show no signs of violence - which leaves us with two alternative reasons for these deaths: starvation or pestilence," said Mathew Morris, Project Officer at Leicester University's Archaeological Services. "At the moment, the latter is our main working hypothesis."
In addition to ruling out a violent death for the 123 individuals located in the burial pit, archaeologists have determined that the way the bodies were placed in the pit shows an organized burial took place; determining that the bodies were brought by cart, within several trips, and placed on top of one another. The skeletal remains were also found to have had their arms tied, and shrouds wrapped around them, which was a sign of a dignified burial for that period.
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"We initially thought this was going to be the first evidence of the Black Death arriving in Leicester," Morris explained. "Then the team got the results of radiocarbon dating tests of the bones from the pit. These showed that the bodies had been dumped there almost 150 years earlier, around the beginning of the 12th century. That was surprising," he continued. "We have no idea, at present, what might have triggered such a massive cause of death. As far as we know, the bubonic plague did not reach our shores until 1348. So, what was the cause of the mass deaths that occurred then?"
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So, why were archaeologists excavating the grounds around Leicester Cathedral that led to the discovery of the mass burial grave?
Back in 2012, as a team of archaeologists were excavating the grounds of Leicester Cathedral, they discovered a skeleton buried beneath the car park. Upon further investigation of the bones, to the shocking surprise of everyone involved, the results came back that the skeleton belonged to King Richard III: the whereabouts of his body unbeknownst for 500 years.
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That groundbreaking discovery led to a mass number of visitors arriving at Leicester Cathedral in the months and years following, which led to the National Lottery Heritage Fund approving the construction of a new Heritage Learning Center.
In the 12 years since the discovery of King Richard III, the archaeological team has unearthed 1,237 children, women, and men: their skeletal remains carbon-dating between the 11th and 19th centuries.
Now, this groundbreaking discovery of a mass burial site in the garden of Leicester Cathedral has stumped archaeologists. Their hypothetical synopsis of why 123 skeletons were dumped in the narrow burial site: some type of pandemic, similar to Covid.
"It was clearly a devastating outbreak that resonates with recent events, in particular the Covid pandemic," said Morris. "But it is also important to note there was still some form of civic control going on. There was still someone going around in a cart collecting bodies. What we see from studying the bodies in the pit does not indicate it was created in a panic."
He added: "There was also no evidence of clothing on any of the bodies - no buckles, brooches, nothing to suggest these were people who were dropping dead in the street before being collected and dumped.
"In fact, there are signs that their limbs were still together, which suggests they were wrapped in shrouds. So their families were able to prepare these bodies for burial before someone from a central authority collected them to take to the pit burial."
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