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...
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...
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 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...
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...
‘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...
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...
“I tell you: one must still have chaos within oneself, to give birth to a dancing star” (Nietzsche in Thus Spoke Zarathustra). By conservative estimates, the European Renaissance spans the historical...
The bubonic plague , otherwise known as the Black Death, originated in Asia during the late Middle Ages and spread north into Europe through the bacteria Yersinia pestis on infected fleas. To counter...
In a stunning find, hundreds of artifacts dating back to the golden age of China have been discovered in ancient Han period tombs located at the origin of the Silk Road . Xi ’ an (Sian) city is the...
The plague doctor mask is one of the most recognizable symbols of the Black Death. Though the image is iconic the relationship may be a little anachronistic. While plague doctors have been plying...
Every so often, a pandemic emerges that dramatically alters human society. The Black Death (1347 - 1351) was one; the Spanish flu of 1918 was another. Now there’s COVID-19 . Archaeologists have long...
Kriston R. Rennie / The Conversation The Black Death (1347-51) devastated European society. Writing four decades after the event, the English monk and chronicler, Thomas Walsingham, remarked that “so...
A team led by a geo-archaeologist and a speleologist have discovered a rare cave burial in Africa containing 30 skeletons, drilled cats’ teeth, and iron artifacts. The 14th-century underground burial...
The Black Death was one of the greatest disasters in recorded history. New discoveries in a medieval hospital burial ground are revealing new insights into its impact on rural England. It shows that...
The recent global spread of a deadly coronavirus originating in Wuhan, China, has led world leaders to invoke an ancient tradition to control the spread of illness: quarantine. The practice is first...