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I'm a PhD student researching the role of the archaeological dead in contemporary British society. Think of this as a scrapbook of all the interesting links, snippets of information and random bits and bobs I come across pertaining to death, dying and the dead. Enjoy?!

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    ‘Black Death pit’ unearthed by Crossrail project Excavations for London’s Crossrail project have unearthed bodies believed to date from the time of the Black Death. A burial ground was known to be in an area outside the City of London, but its exact location remained a mystery. Thirteen bodies have been found so far in the 5.5m-wide shaft at the edge of Charterhouse Square, alongside pottery dated to the mid-14th Century. Analysis will shed light on the plague and the Londoners of the day. DNA taken from the skeletons may also help chart the development and spread of the bacterium that caused the plague that became known as the Black Death. Charterhouse Square lies in an area that was once outside the walls of London, referred to at the time as “No-man’s Land”. The skeletons’ arrangement in two neat rows suggests they date from the earliest era of the Black Death, before it fully developed into the pandemic that in later years saw bodies dumped haphazardly into mass graves. Archaeologists working for Crossrail and the Museum of London will continue to dig in a bid to discover further remains, or any finds from earlier eras. Read more here.

    ‘Black Death pit’ unearthed by Crossrail project

    Excavations for London’s Crossrail project have unearthed bodies believed to date from the time of the Black Death.

    A burial ground was known to be in an area outside the City of London, but its exact location remained a mystery.

    Thirteen bodies have been found so far in the 5.5m-wide shaft at the edge of Charterhouse Square, alongside pottery dated to the mid-14th Century.

    Analysis will shed light on the plague and the Londoners of the day.

    DNA taken from the skeletons may also help chart the development and spread of the bacterium that caused the plague that became known as the Black Death.

    Charterhouse Square lies in an area that was once outside the walls of London, referred to at the time as “No-man’s Land”.

    The skeletons’ arrangement in two neat rows suggests they date from the earliest era of the Black Death, before it fully developed into the pandemic that in later years saw bodies dumped haphazardly into mass graves.

    Archaeologists working for Crossrail and the Museum of London will continue to dig in a bid to discover further remains, or any finds from earlier eras.

    Read more here.

    johanirae: detenebrate: 0xymoronic: shitarianasays: theeyesinthenight: the-sonic-screw: platinumpixels: volpesvolpes: unseilie: sarahvonkrolock: gaysexagainstawall: them-days-was-olden-as-fuck: The spread of the black death. Poland Poland, tell us your secret. Poland is the old new Madagascar.  If I remember correctly, Poland’s secret is that the jews where being blamed all over europe (as usual) as scapegoats for the black plague. Poland was the only place that accepted Jewish refugees, so pretty much all of them moved there.  Now, one of the major causes of getting the plague was poor hygiene. This proved very effective for the plague because everyone threw their poop into the streets because there were no sewers, and literally no one bathed because it was against their religion. Unless they were jewish, who actually bathed relatively often. When all the jews moved to Poland, they brought bathing with them, and so the plague had little effect there. Milan survived by quarantining its city and burning down the house of anyone showing early symptoms, with the entire family inside it.  I reblogged this tons of times, but the Milan info is new. Damn Italy, you scary. Poland: “Hey, feeling a bit down? Have a quick wash! There, you see? All better” Milan: “Aw, feeling a bit sick are we? BURN MOTHERFUCKER, BURN!!!!!” Also, this might have something to do with it: from what I understand, O blood type is uncommonly… common in Poland. Something to do with large families in small villages and a LOT of intermarriage. The black plague was caused by a bacterium that produced, in its waste in the human body, wastes that very closely mimic the “B” marker sugars on red blood cells that keep the body from attacking its own immune system. Anyone who has a B blood type had an immune system that was naturally desensitized to the presence of the bacterium, and therefore was more prone to developing the disease. Anyone who had an O type was doubly lucky because the O blood type means the total absence of ANY markers, A or B, meaning that their bodys’ immune system would react quickly and violently against the invaders, while someone with an A may show symptoms and recover more slowly, while someone with B would have just died. Because O is a recessive blood type, it shows in higher numbers when more people who carry the recessive genes marry other people who also carry the recessive gene. Poland, which has a nearly 700 year history of being conquered by or partnering with every other nation in the surrounding area, was primarily an agricultural country, focused around smaller, farming communities where people were legally tied to, and required to work, “their” land, and so historically never “spread” their genes across a large area. The economy was, and had been, unstable for a very long period of time leading up to the plague, the government had been ineffective and had very little reach in comparison to the armies of the other countries around for a very very long time, and so its people largely remained in small communities where multiple generations of cross-familial inbreeding could have allowed for this more recessive gene to show up more frequently. Thus, there could be a higher percentage of O blood types in any region of the country, guaranteeing less spread of the illness and moving slower when it did manage to travel. Combine this with the fact that there were very few large, urban centers where the disease would thrive, and with the above facts, and you’ve got a lovely recipe for avoiding the plague. Interestingly enough, as a result from the plague, the entirety of Europe now has a higher percentage of people with O blood type than any other region of the world.  WHY IS THIS ALL SO COOL When Tumblr teaches you more about the plague than 12 years of school ever did. Just to throw a nod in, as a medieval historian, this is all credible, and is the leading theory as to the plagues effectiveness at this point. So. Enjoy your new knowledge! And parents said teh internet is not educational.

    johanirae:

    detenebrate:

    0xymoronic:

    shitarianasays:

    theeyesinthenight:

    the-sonic-screw:

    platinumpixels:

    volpesvolpes:

    unseilie:

    sarahvonkrolock:

    gaysexagainstawall:

    them-days-was-olden-as-fuck:

    The spread of the black death.

    Poland

    Poland, tell us your secret.

    Poland is the old new Madagascar. 

    If I remember correctly, Poland’s secret is that the jews where being blamed all over europe (as usual) as scapegoats for the black plague. Poland was the only place that accepted Jewish refugees, so pretty much all of them moved there. 

    Now, one of the major causes of getting the plague was poor hygiene. This proved very effective for the plague because everyone threw their poop into the streets because there were no sewers, and literally no one bathed because it was against their religion. Unless they were jewish, who actually bathed relatively often. When all the jews moved to Poland, they brought bathing with them, and so the plague had little effect there.

    Milan survived by quarantining its city and burning down the house of anyone showing early symptoms, with the entire family inside it. 

    I reblogged this tons of times, but the Milan info is new.

    Damn Italy, you scary.

    Poland: “Hey, feeling a bit down? Have a quick wash! There, you see? All better”

    Milan: “Aw, feeling a bit sick are we? BURN MOTHERFUCKER, BURN!!!!!”

    Also, this might have something to do with it: from what I understand, O blood type is uncommonly… common in Poland. Something to do with large families in small villages and a LOT of intermarriage. The black plague was caused by a bacterium that produced, in its waste in the human body, wastes that very closely mimic the “B” marker sugars on red blood cells that keep the body from attacking its own immune system. Anyone who has a B blood type had an immune system that was naturally desensitized to the presence of the bacterium, and therefore was more prone to developing the disease. Anyone who had an O type was doubly lucky because the O blood type means the total absence of ANY markers, A or B, meaning that their bodys’ immune system would react quickly and violently against the invaders, while someone with an A may show symptoms and recover more slowly, while someone with B would have just died. Because O is a recessive blood type, it shows in higher numbers when more people who carry the recessive genes marry other people who also carry the recessive gene. Poland, which has a nearly 700 year history of being conquered by or partnering with every other nation in the surrounding area, was primarily an agricultural country, focused around smaller, farming communities where people were legally tied to, and required to work, “their” land, and so historically never “spread” their genes across a large area. The economy was, and had been, unstable for a very long period of time leading up to the plague, the government had been ineffective and had very little reach in comparison to the armies of the other countries around for a very very long time, and so its people largely remained in small communities where multiple generations of cross-familial inbreeding could have allowed for this more recessive gene to show up more frequently. Thus, there could be a higher percentage of O blood types in any region of the country, guaranteeing less spread of the illness and moving slower when it did manage to travel. Combine this with the fact that there were very few large, urban centers where the disease would thrive, and with the above facts, and you’ve got a lovely recipe for avoiding the plague.

    Interestingly enough, as a result from the plague, the entirety of Europe now has a higher percentage of people with O blood type than any other region of the world. 

    WHY IS THIS ALL SO COOL

    When Tumblr teaches you more about the plague than 12 years of school ever did.

    Just to throw a nod in, as a medieval historian, this is all credible, and is the leading theory as to the plagues effectiveness at this point. So. Enjoy your new knowledge!

    And parents said teh internet is not educational.

    (Source: , via lostinhistory)

    • Posted 3 months ago
    • January 29th, 2013

    122577 Likes & Reblogs

    Black Death: Can the secrets of London’s plague pits help fight modern diseases?

    LONDON — They were the final resting place for victims of the Black Death, but London’s underground medieval plague pits are now unlocking the secrets of modern-day infectious diseases.

    The bodies of tens of thousands of Londoners were thrown into communal graves after one of the most devastating epidemics in human history swept through Europe in the 14th century.

    Between 1348 and 1351, the Black Death — or bubonic plague — killed up to three in five people as it spread rapidly through pre-industrial cities, unchecked by sanitation or modern medicine. That, and subsequent waves of the Yersinia pestis bacterium, claimed the lives of tens of millions of Europeans.

    • Posted 8 months ago
    • September 27th, 2012

    5 Likes & Reblogs

    Average Archaeologist: Decoding the Black Death: Anthropologist Finds Clues in Medieval Skeletons

    archaeologicalnews:

    Each time Sharon DeWitte takes a 3-foot by 1-foot archival box off the shelf at the Museum of London she hopes it will be heavy.

    “Heavy means you know you have a relatively complete skeleton,” said DeWitte, an anthropologist at the University of South Carolina who…

    (via dead-men-talking)

    Man develops bubonic plague from stray cat bite and narrowly escapes death… but will have fingers and toes amputated A 59-year-old man is out of hospital after spending a month in intensive care due to infection from the bubonic plague. Paul Gaylord, 59, developed the symptoms after he was bitten by a stray cat his family had adopted. The cat, named Charlie, had caught a rodent which was stuck in his throat. It is thought that the rat was infected by fleas, which carry the disease. Initially, Mr Gaylord thought he had the flu when he developed a fever after the bite. After antibiotics failed to make him feel better, he was rushed to hospital when his lymph nodes swelled to the size of lemons. He still faces surgery to remove his withered, blackened fingers and toes - one of the symptoms of the terrible disease that gave it the name, the ‘black death’. Although the welder will not be able to work again, he is lucky to be alive. Bad kitty! In all seriousness though, this is absolutely horrific and a very graphic illustration of just why it is called the ‘Black Death’. It is estimated that some 25 million people died across 14th-century Europe as a result of this disease - I am truly thankful for modern medicine (and never touching a stray cat ever again)!

    Man develops bubonic plague from stray cat bite and narrowly escapes death… but will have fingers and toes amputated

    A 59-year-old man is out of hospital after spending a month in intensive care due to infection from the bubonic plague.

    Paul Gaylord, 59, developed the symptoms after he was bitten by a stray cat his family had adopted.

    The cat, named Charlie, had caught a rodent which was stuck in his throat. It is thought that the rat was infected by fleas, which carry the disease.

    Initially, Mr Gaylord thought he had the flu when he developed a fever after the bite.

    After antibiotics failed to make him feel better, he was rushed to hospital when his lymph nodes swelled to the size of lemons.

    He still faces surgery to remove his withered, blackened fingers and toes - one of the symptoms of the terrible disease that gave it the name, the ‘black death’.

    Although the welder will not be able to work again, he is lucky to be alive.

    Bad kitty! In all seriousness though, this is absolutely horrific and a very graphic illustration of just why it is called the ‘Black Death’. It is estimated that some 25 million people died across 14th-century Europe as a result of this disease - I am truly thankful for modern medicine (and never touching a stray cat ever again)!

    biomedicalephemera:

    Bubonic Plague - Yersinia pestis

    Yersinia pestis is always a fun little organism to see under the microscope. It’s a Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacteria, but it looks more like a safety-pin than a “rod” because of the natural bi-polar staining pattern of the organism. The species was found to be the causative agent of bubonic plague during an 1894 epidemic in Hong Kong, by Alexandre Yersin. Until 1967, however, it was categorized with the Pasteurella genus, and was known as Pasteurella pestis.

    There are several strains of Y. pestis, and three different manifestations of the plague:

    • Bubonic plague - Incubation period of 2-6 days with few symptoms, while bacteria multiply within lymph nodes. Sudden fever and headache at end of incubation period, with complete loss of energy. The characteristic buboes (lymph swellings) appear at this point, as the lymph nodes swell to enormous proportions thanks to the bacteria within them. The inguinal (groin) nodes generally are the first to show signs of infection.

    • Septicemic plague - Same bacteria, different strain of Y. pestis, and way worse. From what we know, primary septicemic plague is generally caused by one unique strain, or by any strain in immuno-compromised patients. When the other manifestations of the disease cause overwhelming sepsis prior to death, this is known as secondary septicemic plague. Primary septicemic plague is characterized by hypotension, shock, hepatosplenomegaly (swollen spleen and liver), and death. Sometimes very few or even no outward symptoms develop before the patient is killed by the bacteria’s internal effects.

    • Pneumonic plague - Caused by direct inhalation of bacteria (often person-to-person), with initial site of infection being the lungs. Different strains have different degrees of ability to transfer in this manner, but it generally requires prolonged contact with infected persons or animals. Causes tracheal and bronchial hemorrhaging, large amounts of alveolar exudate, congestion of the lungs, and pleural edema. Often quickly spreads to other organs, much like bubonic plague.

    While all three manifestations of the disease can be deadly, the incidence of death is greatly reduced by IV antibiotics, and thanks to modern sanitation standards, outbreaks in developed countries are unheard of.

    Still, Yersinia pestis isn’t, and probably never will be, completely exterminated. Wild animals such as rodents, prairie dogs, and some marsupials and primates are known to both be affected by and serve as reservoirs for the bacteria. This means that even if humans somehow stopped acquiring the plague for a while, the bacteria itself would still be around, and we would still be able to contract it.

    Interestingly, a 2011 study in the journal Nature showed that the strain of Y. pestis which caused the Black Death in both the 1st century C.E. and the early Middle Ages may no longer be extant. The genome of the bacteria analyzed from victims of those plagues showed a more ancient form of Y. pestis that lacked a number of the mutations that exist in current-day strains, which are known to have caused all epidemics beyond the Renaissance.

    Have I gone on about the plague enough? If not, check out way more information than you’ll ever use about the pathogen at CIDRAP Bioterrorism and PLoS Pathogens!

    Images:

    • Bacillus of Bubonic Plague - Elementary Bacteriology and Protozoology, for the use of Nurses. Herbert Fox, 1919.
    • Swelling of inguinal bubo in U.S. soldier - From the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ca. 1970.
    • Plague victims being blessed by priest - Omne Bonum. James le Palmer, 1360.
    • Mass grave of plague victims- From Martiques, France, dated to the last pandemic of plague in Europe, between 1720 and 1722.
    • Plague Riot of Moscow - Depicts the rioting during and after the 1770s Moscow epidemic.

    (via theossuary)

    Via Atlas Obscura The Vampire Plague of Venice It’s bad enough when the plague rolls into town, but the citizens of Venice apparently also did battle with vampires. In 1629-1630 the black death descended on Italy, killing as many as 280,000 people. In isolated and crowded Venice, the disease hit hard, taking nearly a third of the population: 46,000 lives out of a population of just 140,000. The death and resulting chaos deeply brought the once great maritime empire to its knees. In an attempt to prevent disasters like this, Venice had long ago built two quarantine islands on the outskirts of the city, known as Lazzaretto Vecchio (Old Quarantine) and Lazzaretto Nuovo (New Quarantine). During normal times, these islands functioned primarily as a filter, waylaying incoming ships as they entered the city so that crew and goods could be inspected for signs of disease. But in the desperate times that came with the outbreak of the black death, citizens were taken by force and marooned on the islands, where they were left to die. Mass graves containing thousands of bodies have been uncovered on both islands in recent years. But more distressingly than plague bodies, recent excavations also uncovered the skull of a woman with a brick jammed in her mouth, leaving her in an eternal scream. This was the prescribed method in the mid 17th century for dealing with “Shroud Eaters”, a type of vampire also known as “The Chewing Dead”. These particular vampires were believed to be able to cause death and disease from the comfort of their own graves, laying there in the dark, possessed and chewing at their burial garments. Vigilant citizens who somehow noticed unsettling masticating sounds emerging from the grave, or spotted the blood-stained mouths of the recently dead (a naturally occurring side effect of decomposition) took it upon themselves to put an end to the Shroud Eater’s reign of terror by inserting a brick in their mouth. Although stories of the chewing dead and the treatments for them had long been a part of vampire lore, finding actual evidence of the practice is extremely rare. The excavation referred to in the article took place in 2009 and you can find out more about the discovery of the ‘Vampire of Venice’ by clicking here.

    Via Atlas Obscura

    The Vampire Plague of Venice

    It’s bad enough when the plague rolls into town, but the citizens of Venice apparently also did battle with vampires.

    In 1629-1630 the black death descended on Italy, killing as many as 280,000 people. In isolated and crowded Venice, the disease hit hard, taking nearly a third of the population: 46,000 lives out of a population of just 140,000. The death and resulting chaos deeply brought the once great maritime empire to its knees.

    In an attempt to prevent disasters like this, Venice had long ago built two quarantine islands on the outskirts of the city, known as Lazzaretto Vecchio (Old Quarantine) and Lazzaretto Nuovo (New Quarantine). During normal times, these islands functioned primarily as a filter, waylaying incoming ships as they entered the city so that crew and goods could be inspected for signs of disease.

    But in the desperate times that came with the outbreak of the black death, citizens were taken by force and marooned on the islands, where they were left to die. Mass graves containing thousands of bodies have been uncovered on both islands in recent years.

    But more distressingly than plague bodies, recent excavations also uncovered the skull of a woman with a brick jammed in her mouth, leaving her in an eternal scream. This was the prescribed method in the mid 17th century for dealing with “Shroud Eaters”, a type of vampire also known as “The Chewing Dead”. These particular vampires were believed to be able to cause death and disease from the comfort of their own graves, laying there in the dark, possessed and chewing at their burial garments. Vigilant citizens who somehow noticed unsettling masticating sounds emerging from the grave, or spotted the blood-stained mouths of the recently dead (a naturally occurring side effect of decomposition) took it upon themselves to put an end to the Shroud Eater’s reign of terror by inserting a brick in their mouth.

    Although stories of the chewing dead and the treatments for them had long been a part of vampire lore, finding actual evidence of the practice is extremely rare.

    The excavation referred to in the article took place in 2009 and you can find out more about the discovery of the ‘Vampire of Venice’ by clicking here.

    fuckyeahmedicalstuff: Black Death’s Origin is Identified at Last It looks like the puzzle of the Black Death has another piece put into place: Yersinia pestis definitely played a role in the infection, though we still don’t know whether it’s the only infectious agent involved. Given how much more fatal infectious diseases can be to previously unexposed populations (smallpox, anyone?), it seems plausible that Yersinia could have been a solo player in the matter. Yersinia has for some time been the prime suspect because some of its symptoms are similar to the Black Death. But questions were raised because modern Yersinia is a slow-spreading, rat-borne disease that is very different from the Black Death. Its DNA doesn’t explain why. “There are almost no genetic differences between the ancient and modern Yersinia,” says Krause. He speculates that the Black Death behaved differently from modern Yersinia infection due to Europeans’ total lack of previous exposure. Another possibility is co-infection with other pathogens, a so-called syndemic. The team hopes to learn more about the evolution of human disease by probing plague pits and other ancient samples for different pathogens. Additional pits of plague victims were recently unearthed in both Italy and England, and will hopefully provide a reasonable number of samples to test for Yersinia and other causative agents.

    fuckyeahmedicalstuff:

    Black Death’s Origin is Identified at Last

    It looks like the puzzle of the Black Death has another piece put into place: Yersinia pestis definitely played a role in the infection, though we still don’t know whether it’s the only infectious agent involved. Given how much more fatal infectious diseases can be to previously unexposed populations (smallpox, anyone?), it seems plausible that Yersinia could have been a solo player in the matter.

    Yersinia has for some time been the prime suspect because some of its symptoms are similar to the Black Death. But questions were raised because modern Yersinia is a slow-spreading, rat-borne disease that is very different from the Black Death. Its DNA doesn’t explain why. “There are almost no genetic differences between the ancient and modern Yersinia,” says Krause.

    He speculates that the Black Death behaved differently from modern Yersinia infection due to Europeans’ total lack of previous exposure. Another possibility is co-infection with other pathogens, a so-called syndemic. The team hopes to learn more about the evolution of human disease by probing plague pits and other ancient samples for different pathogens.

    Additional pits of plague victims were recently unearthed in both Italy and England, and will hopefully provide a reasonable number of samples to test for Yersinia and other causative agents.

    (via biomedicalephemera)

    Black Death bug which killed 100million in 14th century plague still exists in modern day Britain

    DNA taken from the skeletons of plague victims in medieval London has unearthed a shocking revelation – the Black Death is still present today.

    Bodies of victims, who were buried in a mass ‘plague graves’ in the capital, show that part of the same sequence of genes still exists, hundreds of years later.

    The Black Death claimed the lives of one-third of Europe’s population in just five years from 1348 to 1353.

    Black Death study lets rats off the hook… Plague of 1348-49 spread so fast in London the carriers had to be humans not black rats, says archaeologist Rats weren’t the carriers of the plague after all. A study by an archaeologist looking at the ravages of the Black Death in London, in late 1348 and 1349, has exonerated the most famous animal villains in history. “The evidence just isn’t there to support it,” said Barney Sloane, author of The Black Death in London. “We ought to be finding great heaps of dead rats in all the waterfront sites but they just aren’t there. And all the evidence I’ve looked at suggests the plague spread too fast for the traditional explanation of transmission by rats and fleas. It has to be person to person – there just isn’t time for the rats to be spreading it.” He added: “It was certainly the Black Death but it is by no means certain what that disease was, whether in fact it was bubonic plague.” Image: Bubonic plague victims of 14th century London, uncovered in the 1980s in an excavation at the Old Royal Mint via Rex Features Click the photo to read the article in full!

    Black Death study lets rats off the hook…

    Plague of 1348-49 spread so fast in London the carriers had to be humans not black rats, says archaeologist

    Rats weren’t the carriers of the plague after all. A study by an archaeologist looking at the ravages of the Black Death in London, in late 1348 and 1349, has exonerated the most famous animal villains in history.

    “The evidence just isn’t there to support it,” said Barney Sloane, author of The Black Death in London. “We ought to be finding great heaps of dead rats in all the waterfront sites but they just aren’t there. And all the evidence I’ve looked at suggests the plague spread too fast for the traditional explanation of transmission by rats and fleas. It has to be person to person – there just isn’t time for the rats to be spreading it.”

    He added: “It was certainly the Black Death but it is by no means certain what that disease was, whether in fact it was bubonic plague.”

    Image: Bubonic plague victims of 14th century London, uncovered in the 1980s in an excavation at the Old Royal Mint via Rex Features

    Click the photo to read the article in full!