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| Skeletons
- Malmesbury Abbey |
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IN 2002, 75 medieval skeletons were found by workmen at a site near the old cinema beside the centuries-old Malmesbury Abbey.
Work on houses had to be stopped in July for seven weeks when workmen discovered bones with a mechanical digger. Experts had initially thought that only 20 skeletons were buried on the site when excavations were completed in August. Cotswold Archaeology was brought in to monitor the discoveries. Project manager at the Cotswold Archaeological Trust, Cliff Bateman, said: "It is a surprise that we have found so many bodies here considering there were foundations dug for the cinema in the 1930s and there would have been houses there in the 17th and 18th centuries." Careful excavation initially found three skeletons, thought to date from the 12th and 14th centuries, but that figure rose to 20 by the end of August. Archaeologists discovered that the site, once a graveyard, was intensively used, with little or no space between the bodies. They would have been buried in woollen shrouds rather than coffins. The skeletons are both sexes, and adult and child burials. Mr Bateman said: "Once we receive a final report from specialists in this area we should be able discover any degenerate diseases that the bodies had and even what they were eating, and because of the size this should give a good representation of the population at the time." |
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