Science & Technology

UK Rail Workers Unearth Suspected Black Death Burial Pit

13 skeletons uncovered

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Archaeologists working alongside builders on a new London rail link have turned up a grisly find that harks back seven centuries, to a time when Black Death stalked the medieval city.

A shaft sunk for the underpinnings of the new Crossrail link in Farringdon revealed 13 skeletons, lined up neatly in two rows, the company said Friday.

Suspicions are that the dig has revealed a "plague pit"—one of many mass graves used to dispose of the bodies of those who succumbed to the Black Death, or bubonic plague, in the 14th century.