Travelnotesfromtheworld

After the recent discovery of human bones underneath a supermarket in Paris, London has also revealed its hidden skeletons. During excavations for the construction of a new railway line, the remains of about 3 thousand people were discovered. It is thought that they could be the victims of the great plague that struck the population of London in the seventeenth century.

Archaeologists from MOLA (the Museum of London Archaeology) are digging up the remains and further analysis with then be conducted. It is hoped that this will shed light on the historical epidemic that devastated the British capital.

THE PLACE OF DISCOVERY: The exceptional discovery was made at a construction site near Liverpool Street train station. The gigantic mass grave originates from “Bedlam”, the first municipal cemetery located outside the city walls. Between 1569 and 1738, the cemetery was used to bury those who could not afford a tomb in the church or who had been discriminated against on religious or political grounds. The ancient cemetery owes its name to the psychiatric hospital that once stood on the same ground, the Bethlem Royal Hospital (also known as Bedlam, later moved out of London).

THE GREAT PLAGUE: Preliminary excavations conducted at Liverpool Street had already revealed more than 400 skeletons. Scholars speculate that the 3 thousand skeletons now are, in large part, the remains of the great plague that caused the death of more than a fifth of the entire population of London between 1665 and 1666. Although the documents from the time do not allow for exact calculations (the deaths of the poor were not being registered), it is estimated that the epidemic claimed between 75 thousand and 100 thousand victims. The infection subsided in conjunction with the Great Fire of London, which destroyed a large portion of the city in September 1666.

RACE AGAINST TIME: Nick Elsden, project manager of the MOLA, said that the Bedlam cemetery is an opportunity to shed light “on a stage of the fascinating history of the city, covering the transition from the Tudor period to modern and cosmopolitan London.”

There is a team of 60 archaeologists working on the site. They have 6 weeks to excavate all the skeletons and document all their findings, since the construction of the railway line cannot wait for too long. Before being reinterred in another cemetery, the remains will be analyzed, with the dual objective of obtaining evidence on the bacterial strain which caused the epidemic and to find out more about demographic details, such as the diet and lifestyle of Londoners during this era.

There are hundreds of species of bacteria in the New York metropolitan area, many of which are still unknown. It is thought that this could include many dangerous bacteria, including anthrax and the bubonic plague.

Every year, about 1.7 billion people travel through the New York subway system, which consists of over 960 km of rail network. We know that the subway systems in the New York metropolitan area, like many subways around the world, are not exactly totally neat and clean. However, it is still quite shocking to discover that traces of DNA of anthrax and bubonic plague have been found there.

Anthrax is an infection caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis. It occurs mainly in herbivorous animals, but can also be transmitted to humans. As it produces a very high mortality rate, it has even been used as a bacteriological weapon.

Bubonic plague is linked to the bacterium Yersinia pestis, and has caused several deadly epidemics in various parts of the world and in different time periods. The best known is the one that struck Europe between 1400 and 1600.

BACTERIA FOUND IN BINS AND ON HANDRAILS: The process of detecting and mapping bacteria on the subway began in 2013, and the project is called PathoMap. Since that time, there haven’t been a recorded cases of plague or anthrax poisoning. The last case of people with the plague was in 2002, when two tourists contracted the disease by visiting a ranch in New Mexico, where the disease is endemic in the wild, and brought it back to New York with them. So where did this lead to? It seems that the bacterium has actually survived over all that time and is still in the city. Traces of the plague were found in a trash bin and on some railings (it is particularly unclear for researchers as to how the bacteria got there – there has been speculation that it may have come from mice walking along the railings).

A MARINE ECOSYSTEM: The discovery of these bacteria and many others was conducted by researchers at Cornell University and the results were published in Cell System. The intent of the research was to create a map of the bacteria present in the subway, and has led to the identification of around 1,688 bacteria, including an entire “marine ecosystem”.

NOTHING TO FEAR FROM THESE NEW SPECIES: Among the bacteria found, it seems that over 450 categories are resistant to drugs, even if their presence is at very low levels. Christopher Mason, the project manager, stated: “What we have found tells us two things: first, the fact that the human body shows a strong resistance to bacterial attack and is able to continually adapt to the environment in which it lives. Secondly, the presence of certain bacteria in limited quantities does not constitute a threat to human health.”

So, it seems that there is no fear of contracting anthrax or plague for those travelling by subway. The study also allowed us to discover hundreds of hitherto unknown bacterial species that are apparently ubiquitous in urban areas. But what created the marine ecosystem? The researchers say its origin is to be found in Hurricane Sandy, which struck the city in 2012 and flooded some metro stations. The bacteria that were in the sea have adapted to the conditions existing in the city and in the tunnels underground.