Black Death ‘plague pit’ with 48 skeletons uncovered in England

A mass grave of bubonic plague victims has been uncovered at a medieval monastery in what archaeologists are calling an “extremely rare” example of a plague pit in Britain. Archaeologists from the University of Sheffield made the gruesome find during a dig at Thornton Abbey, a former Augustinian monastery dating back to the 12th century.

Researchers had been anticipating uncovering further evidence of a medieval hospital at the historical Lincolnshire site. Instead, they discovered a rectangular pit containing the bodies of 48 men, women and children who all showed signs of the bacterial infection which wiped out millions during the 14th century plague epidemic. READ MORE