st peters

Archaeologists digging in the graveyard of the Abbey of St Peter in Lucca, Italy, have discovered a mass grave that contains evidence of an ancient cholera outbreak. The researchers hope the DNA evidence may give clues about the spread of deadly epidemics and how diseases evolve over time. The Abbey of St. Peter was situated along an early pilgrimage route, and was a congregational point for knights, clerics, monks and peasants. The researchers have been undertaking a three-year excavation project to compare fossils and genes from a variety of social classes and time periods to build a picture of how people lived and died in Middle Age Europe, and beyond. In particular, they are concerned with why the bacterial strain