CNN: Bodies at the bottom of a medieval well revealed the ‘real horror’ of anti-Semitic violence

In 2004, construction workers digging ground at a shopping center in Norwich, England, found 17 bodies at the bottom of an 800-year-old well.

The identity of the remains of six adults and 11 children, and why they ended up in a medieval well, has long puzzled archaeologists. Unlike other mass graves where the skeletons are evenly spaced, the bodies were oddly spaced and jumbled, likely caused by being thrown head first shortly after death.

To better understand how these people died, scientists were recently able to extract the detailed genetic material preserved in the bones thanks to recent advances in ancient DNA sequencing. The genomes of six people showed that four of them were related, including three sisters, the youngest of whom was between five and ten years old. Further analysis of the genetic material showed that all six were “almost certainly” Ashkenazi Jews.

Researchers believe they all died during the anti-Semitic violence that engulfed the city – most likely the riots in February 1190 associated with the Third Crusade, one of a series of religious wars supported by the church. The number of people who died in the massacre is unknown.

“I am delighted and delighted that twelve years after we first began analyzing the remains of these people, technology has allowed us to understand this historical cold case of who these people were and why we think they were killed,” she said. the author of the work.