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Discovered Skeletons In London Reveal Secrets Of The Black Death

By Kamal Nayan | Update Date: Mar 31, 2014 09:28 AM EDT

Molars extracted from skeletons unearthed near new London railway line are revealing secrets of medieval Black Death, according to experts. 

Outlining the biography of a man whose ancient bones were found under London's Charterhouse Square experts told 'he was breast-fed as a baby, moved to London from another part of England had bad tooth decay in childhood, grew up to work as a laborer and died early adulthood from the bubonic plague that ravaged Europe in the 14th century,' reported Washington Post. 

They added that the man's life was nasty, brutish and short. 

"It's fantastic we can look in such detail at an individual who died 600 years ago," said Don Walker, an osteologist with the Museum of London, according to Washington Post. "It's incredible, really."

25 skeletons were uncovered last year by workers working on Crossrail- a new rail line of 21 kilometers of tunnels under the heart of the city. Experts had suspected that the bone came from a cemetery for plague victims. 

For confirming their suspicion, scientists took one teeth from each of 12 skeletons form extracting DNA from them. Expectedly they found that their tests had found the presence of the plague bacterium in the several of the teeth which means that the individuals were exposed to Black Death. 

Archaeologists were also surprised to see that the skeletons lay in layers and appeared to come from three different periods: the original Black Death epidemic in 1348-1350, and later outbreaks in 1361 and the early 15th century. 

"It suggests that the burial ground was used again and again for the burial of plague victims," said Jay Carver, Crossrail's lead archaeologist, according to Washington Post.

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