The remains of children and adults found in a disused well in Norwich have been identified as victims of a bloody medieval pogrom, researchers have revealed.
The team said the discovery underscored the horror of the antisemitic atrocity.
“We’ve finally been able to use historical records, archaeology and ancient DNA analyses to shed new light on a historical crime, and in doing so sequenced the oldest genomes from a Jewish population,” said Dr Selina Brace, lead author of the research from the Natural History Museum in London.
The remains of at least 17 individuals were discovered in Norwich in 2004 during construction at a site intended for a shopping centre.
With no sign of trauma on the bones, it was possible the remains were of victims of famine or disease. But analysis of the bones and associated pottery more than a decade ago, which suggested they were dumped in the 12th or 13th centuries, ruled this out.
As a result, the research team suspected the bodies may have been victims of violence.
“We don’t know actually how they were murdered, but it seems most likely that they were,” said Brace, adding that it appears the bodies were deposited at the same time, with many thrown headfirst.
Now Brace and her colleagues say they have finally cracked the medieval mystery.
Writing in the journal Current Biology, the team say that further radiocarbon dating analyses have revealed the bodies were deposited in the well between AD1161 and AD1216.
