More than 200 skeletal remains were unearthed by workers beneath a supermarket in Paris; prompting the management to call the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research to investigate.
The macabre discovery took place during construction works for the expansion of the basement of Monoprix supermarket along the Boulevard Sebastopol.
The site was long-known to be a former cemetery for the Hospital of the Trinity which operated during the 12th to 17th century, but the supermarket management didn’t expect that much of a mass grave.
“We thought that there would be a few bones as it was the site of a cemetery, but we didn’t think we would find a communal grave,” said Pascal Roy; one of the store’s director.
Archaeologists believes the hundreds of skeletons belonged to the victims of several plagues that ravaged France more than five centuries ago, including the smallpox epidemic in the 17thcentury, although the bodies of the hundreds who died from those diseases were thought to have been removed and transferred to Catacombs of Paris.
The huge size of the grave and the massive pile of the bodies found suggests a “major mortality crisis”, scientists says. The remains were buried deep into eight separate chambers, but were neatly stacked leading archaeologists to believe the victims may have died around the same time.
“What’s surprising is the bodies were not thrown in the graves but were carefully placed there in an organized manner,” lead archaeologist Isabelle Abadie told a local channel. “The individuals, men, women, and children, were placed head-to-toe, to fit as many as possible in the grave.”
An archaeologist investigating the site (Photo Credit: Gawker)
They also found that the way graves were grouped suggests that whole families were buried together. Seven of the tomb contains between five and twenty skeletons each, while the other site has 150 bodies.
An expert said that while the gruesome discovery may be shocking for others, the grave “provides an excellent opportunity to learn about how death was managed and how funerary practices were carried out centuries ago.”
Scientists on site are now conducting carbon-dating process on the remains to determine their ages.
Meanwhile, despite the brief disturbance, the supermarket operation continues and the renovation work is due to begin while authorities are trying to find a proper burial for the victims.
Source: Link
