LONDON -- Excavators are digging up an estimated 3,000 human skeletons from beneath the streets of London.
Archeologists are working on the Bedlam burial ground beneath Liverpool Street, which contains bodies dating from 1569 to at least 1738.
Victims of the Black Death are among the deceased, and scientists hope that tests conducted on the bones will help further our understanding of the evolution of the plague's bacterial strain.
The Museum of London Archeology (MOLA) is conducting the work on behalf of Crossrail, the huge railway construction project cutting through the city. A team of 60 people will work six days a week to remove and record any skeletons from the cemetery site.
“This excavation presents a unique opportunity to understand the lives and deaths of 16th and 17th century Londoners," said Jay Carver, Crossrail lead archaeologist.
"The Bedlam burial ground spans a fascinating phase of London’s history, including the transition from the Tudor-period City into cosmopolitan early-modern London," he said. "This is probably the first time a sample of this size from this time period has been available for archaeologists to study in London."
The dig will continue for the next four weeks and the remains will eventually be reinterred in a field in Essex.
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All images courtesy of Crossrail