Plague killed Roman grave bodies

[Melvadius]

This article relating to findings from recent excavations at Gloucester may be of interest:

 

'A study into a mass Roman grave excavated in Gloucester appears to show the dead had been killed by plague.

 

The remains of around 91 individuals, uncovered in 2005, are part of Wooton cemetery which was the burial ground for the fortress at nearby Kingsholm.

 

The bodies appear to have been thrown in haphazardly during the second half of the 2nd Century.

 

Oxford Archaeology who analysed the remains say they are the victims of an epidemic, perhaps the Antonine Plague.

 

This outbreak of smallpox swept across the Roman Empire between AD 165 and 189. ......'

 

Continued on BBC newspage at:

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/glouces...ire/7374836.stm