Tag Archives: mass burial

Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Paratyphi C at Lübeck – an outbreak of enteric paratyphoid fever in 1367?

Excavation in the 1990s at Lübeck Heilig-Geist spital revealed a mass burial with more than 800 individuals dated to the 14th c.  New research screened aDNA from 92 individuals for the presence of pathogens. The analysis resulted in a detection of Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Paratyphi C.

These results show once more the complexity of the 14th c crisis, which can not be reduced on the BlackDeath.

  • M. Haller/K. Callan/J. Susat u. a., Mass burial genomics  reveals outbreak of enteric paratyphoid fever in the Late Medieval trade city Lübeck. iScience 24, 5, 2021, 102419. – doi 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102419

A German press report at

Rainer Schreg

archaeologist professor in medieval and postmedieval archaeology at Bamberg university

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Looters at a mass burial in France

According to recent press releases we face an increasing number of mass burials all over Europe (recently we had press releases on Ellwangen, Barcelona and London). Currentky there are rescue excavations at Toulouse in France. Around 150 corpses have been found, by now contributed to an outbreak of the plague in 1378.

Several of the skulls have been stolen from the excavation. Looting of archaeological sites is an increasing problem not only in the Near East. In Toulouse the looting of skulls may seriously affect the scientific value of the anthropological data for the analysis of demography, nutrition and the effects of the Black Death.

 

Rainer Schreg

archaeologist professor in medieval and postmedieval archaeology at Bamberg university

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Mass Burial in Barcelona

Media report about a mass burial in Barcelona:

It will be interesting to learn, how methodologically the burial has been dated between 1348 and 1375.

Rainer Schreg

archaeologist professor in medieval and postmedieval archaeology at Bamberg university

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