The Plague

Well, well, well...England has gone and done it again. Archaeologists there have unearthed what is believed to have been a burial ground for plague victims. You gotta love Europe. Their rich, long history does amazing things for history seekers.

(click here for article)

The thing I love about this is the questions it brings with it. I have never really studied the plague. I know it happened. I know the song "Ring Around the Rosies" was created because of it. I know a lot, and I mean A LOT of people died from it. But beyond that my knowledge is limited. I've heard stories about how some people believe that because cats were killed due to witchy superstitions that there were no animals to kill the rats and therefore they ran amok spreading disease. I have heard stories about how it was really caused by a lack of plumbing where buckets of human waste were thrown out windows onto the streets. Do I know what caused it, no. I've never studied it or read up on it. What I find interesting about this find is the fact that the victims were buried in neat little rows.

I know that in other locations where the plague killed large numbers of people (ie; Italy) they burned the bodies and dumped the ashes in fields. Its my understanding that the Island of Poveglia in Italy was used to quarantine plague victims. Once they died there they were cremated. So why did they bury victims in England? Or was it that some victims were buried and others were burned? Could be something fun to start reading up on. I don't know. What I do know though is that I thought I would post this on here because it just goes to show all the cool things we have yet to unearth. Not to mention, I know that some people find stuff like this to be very fascinating and I wanted to give them something to dive into for the weekend. I hope it will encourage someone out there to do a deeper search into history or visit their local library for more information.

Rachel B.