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Some of the skeletons found in the Black Death Mass Graves in Nuremberg, Germany. Source: In Terra Veritas

Largest Mass Grave in Europe Discovered in Nuremberg, Germany

An unexpected discovery in the heart of Nuremberg has cast new light on the city’s traumatic history. Archaeologists, initially set to inspect an area for new apartment construction in the Franconian...
Interior detail from the Florence Cathedral, Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, Italy. Source: EnginKorkmaz/Adobe Stock

Everything You Need to Know About the Renaissance Period (Video)

The Renaissance , arising from the tumultuous aftermath of the Crisis of the Late Middle Ages, was a transformative period in European history characterized by unprecedented social, cultural, and...
Classic column of Renaissance architecture, in Venice, Italy. Source: leeyiutung/Adobe Stock

How Did Europe Step Into the Modern Era? (Video)

Historians contend that the advent of the Modern Era predates the digital age, tracing its origins back to the Renaissance period of the 1500s. This epochal shift emerged from the aftermath of the...
Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s painting: The Triumph of Death, depicting the results of a pandemic. Source: Public Domain

The Most Destructive Pandemics and Epidemics in Human History (Video)

The history of humanity is marked by devastating pandemics and epidemics that have left indelible scars on societies. These widespread outbreaks, such as the Plague of Athens in 430 BC and the...
Representation of woman smelling a new perfume scent in an ancient perfumery lab.	Source: razoomanetu/Adobe Stock

The Fragrant Ancient History of Perfume (Video)

The history of perfume is a fragrant odyssey, transcending its contemporary role in hygiene. In ancient Egypt, perfumes were divine creations, with Nefertem, the god of the sunrise, overseeing scents...
The people of Tournai bury victims of the Black Death, circa 1353. Source: Public Domain

Black Women Were Primary Victims of Black Death in Medieval London

When the Black Death or bubonic plague epidemic ravaged London between the autumn of 1348 and the spring of 1350, it may have wiped out as much as half the city’s population. While the victims of...
Body collector during the plague. Source: YouTube Screenshot / Weird History.

What It Was Like to Be a Body Collector During the Black Death (Video)

Amid the Black Plague's devastating sweep from 1346 to 1353, a daunting profession emerged: that of the body collector. Their grim duty was unambiguous - to clear the streets and homes of the...
Europe was changed after the Black Death ended. Source: Alexander / Adobe Stock.

What Happened After the Black Death Ended? (Video)

After the Black Death's devastating toll on Europe, survivors faced daunting challenges. The plague's aftermath brought about a stark transformation. The immediate impact was an economic crisis, with...
Medieval queen dabs sweat from her brow. Source: Alliance / Adobe Stock.

The Sweating Plague Was Deadlier Than It Sounds (Video)

In the late 15th and 16th centuries, England was gripped by a deadly disease known as Sudor Anglicu s or English sweat. This malady, unlike the Black Death , did not grant immunity to survivors. In...
Medieval war. Source: Gorodenkoff / Adobe Stock.

How the Worst Periods in History Got Better (Video)

Throughout history, humanity has faced adversity, from the Black Death that wiped out much of Europe to the Great Fire of Chicago in 1871. These challenges spurred significant transformations. The...
The Black Plague. Source: illustrissima / Adobe Stock.

How You Could Have Survived the Black Plague (Video)

Surviving the Black Plague in the 14th-century Europe necessitated avoiding crowded areas, curtailing the spread of the Bubonic plague through airborne transmission. Keeping a safe distance from...
Skeletons in a mass grave. Source: EKH-Pictures / Adobe Stock.

Grim Discovery: Uncovering London's Plague Burial Ground (Video)

In August 2015, an astounding discovery was made in the heart of London that sent shockwaves through the archaeological and historical communities. Researchers announced the unearthing of a mass...
The Plague of Thebes (Public Domain)

The Black Death and Beyond: Uncovering the Secrets of Plague's Deadly Legacy (Video)

Plague , one of the deadliest diseases in human history, has a haunting legacy of mass sickness and destruction. It has been responsible for numerous major pandemics that occurred centuries apart,...
Plague epidemic. Source: Matrioshka / Adobe Stock.

From Horror to Hope: Surviving the Black Plague (Video)

The Black Death , a pandemic that ravaged humanity in the Middle Ages, left a harrowing mark on history. Millions of people succumbed to the plague, and nearly half of Europe's population perished...
A ghost island, representational. Source: Bernadett / Adobe Stock

The Haunted Plague Island of Poveglia: A Dark and Twisted Past

There are a lot of ghost stories from history, but have you heard of the haunted island of Poveglia? Poveglia is a small island located between Venice and Lido in the Venetian Lagoon, Italy, and is...
People with the Black Death depicted in 15th century manuscript. Source: Public domain

Survivors of Black Death Passed on Genetic Risk to Autoimmune Disease

We may have a lot more to thank (or curse) our ancestors for than we realize. When the Black Death or the bubonic plague swept through Europe 700 years ago, it literally killed 50% of the population...
Studying ancient plague genomes, a multidisciplinary team of researchers have finally traced the Black Death origin location to this part of the Central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan. Source: © Lyazzat Musralina / MPG

Medieval Black Death Origin Traced to Central Asia

The Black Death or Black Plague killed somewhere between 75 and 200 million people in just seven years, from 1346 to 1353. About 50 million died in Europe alone, which made it the epicenter of the...
A plaque to the Black Death dead from 1349 and 1369 at Monmouth, Wales.		Source: Jaggery / CC BY-SA 2.0

Was Medieval Black Death Really That Bad? A New Pollen Study Says No!

Black Death is said to have killed over half of Europe’s population. However, a new pollen study suggests many parts of Europe were not affected by the bacterial onslaught. Black Death was a bubonic...
A new study shows that the Black Death mortality rates were not the same across Europe. Source: illustrissima /Adobe Stock

Black Death Mortality Wasn’t as Widespread as Everyone Thinks

The Black Death (1347–1352 AD) is the most infamous pandemic in human history. Advances in ancient DNA research have enabled researchers to identify the bacterium behind this terrible historical...
The Medieval Brooch found in Wiltshire. Credit: Solent News and Photo Agency

Thrilled Detectorist Finds 800-Year-Old Brooch with Magical Words to Ward off Illness

Metal detectorists have become important allies to the archaeology community. Over the past few years, several exciting finds of ancient coins, jewelry, tools, weapons, and other assorted metallic...
The skull of the man who died infected with an early strain of the bacterium that thousands of years later caused the devastating plague in medieval Europe. Black Death origins have now been pushed much further back in history because of this incredible scientific study.					Source: Dominik Göldner / BGAEU

Black Death Origins Linked To 5,000-year-old Latvian Man

The remains of an ancient hunter-gatherer unearthed long ago at the Rinnukalns archaeological site in Latvia, has tested positive for Yersina pestis, which is better known as the bacteria behind the...
How could an entire village disappear? Source: Ivan Kmit / Adobe Stock.

Ghosts in the Landscape: How Did the Village of Gainsthorpe Vanish?

There are many medieval villages in England that have disappeared throughout the years. However, one that remains more visible than most is the village of Gainsthorpe in Lincolnshire. When viewed...
Eyam’s Ultimate Sacrifice: Medieval Village Locked Down to Stop the Plague

Eyam’s Ultimate Sacrifice: Medieval Village Locked Down to Stop the Plague

‘Lockdown’ is a word we now see on a daily basis as the 2020 coronavirus pandemic requires limiting the movements and activities of communities during the mass quarantine of most of the world’s...
Alabaster Priest Effigy Discovered Behind St. Wilfrid’s Church Organ

Alabaster Priest Effigy Discovered Behind St. Wilfrid’s Church Organ

A mystery alabaster statue has been discovered during the renovation of a medieval English village church. The stone holy man was discovered during the restoration of England’s 10th century, Anglo...

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