Issue A981 of 25 Jan. 1998

Will Athenian Bones Reveal their Secrets ?

A collective tomb has been found in Kerameikos Cemetery in Athens, Greece during the excavations for the opening of the tunnels of the new metropolitan (subway) lines. The tomb most probably dates to the "black" winter of 427 BCE. There have been found 130 to 150 bodies buried in a hurry and everything reminds us exactly the description that Thoukydides wrote for that black winter. So far, Mrs Efi Baziotopoulou, the archaeologist in charge of the excavations explained, we have collected a lot of boxes with bones which we delivered to Athens University School of Medicine specialists. They might be able to discover the exact virus that caused the fatal disease, the usually called plague, in 5th c. BCE Athens.



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