Early medieval burials of plague victims: examples from Aschheim and Altenerding (Bavaria, Germany)
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 2017-01-31

With this paper, we present burials from two early medieval cemeteries, Aschheim-Bajuwarenring and Altenerding/Klettham where the causative agent of plague, Yersinia pestis, could be detected palaeogenetically. The burials from the early medieval cemeteries of Aschheim-Bajuwarenring and Altenerding/Klettham show that plague victims have been dressed and prepared carefully for their funeral. Compared to other graves from these cemeteries on the one hand and to contemporary burials in general, nothing basically indicates that the Y. pestis infected individuals had been treated different than other deceased. Among the buried who were infected with Y. pestis occurred some of the richest and most wellequipped graves of the cemeteries. Therefore, it cannot be proven on base of the Early Medieval plague graves of the Munich gravel plain that “[…]at that time all the customary rites of burial were overlooked. For the dead were not carried out escorted by a procession in the customary manner, nor were the usual chants sung over them […]” (Procopius, De Bello Persico II 23, 15). On the contrary: the burial rites, as far as reconstructable, had been carefully conducted. The only difference is that the so far confirmed victims of the plague seem to have been more often buried in double or multiple burials. However, the screening of single burials is still in an initial stage.

Author - Dr. Gutsmiedl-Schümann, Doris, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany (Presenting author)
Co-author(s) - Harbeck, Michaela, Department of Anthropology,
State Collection for Anthropology and Palaeoanatomy, Munich, Germany
Co-author(s) - Keller, Marcel, Department of Anthropology,
State Collection for Anthropology and Palaeoanatomy, Munich, Germany
Co-author(s) - Päffgen, Bernd, Ludwig-Maximilian’s-University Munich, Munich, Germany
Co-author(s) - Rott, Andreas, Department of Anthropology, State Collection for Anthropology and Palaeoanatomy, Munich, Germany