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Kerameikos Cemetery Plague Pit

In 1992, Efi Baziatopoulou-Valavani excavated the Kerameikos cemetery in Athens as a result of the Kerameikos metro expansion. In the northwestern corner of the cemetery, her team found a pit 6.5 meters long and 1.6 meters deep which contained 89 individuals' remains. The remains found belonged to adult males and females, as well as eight children. Many consider this pit to contain victims from the Plague of Athens, which was prevalent from 427-420 BCE, as pottery found within the pit dates the burial to 430-426 BCE. DNA analysis of the remains, conducted by professor Manolis Papagrigorakis, revealed Salmonella enterica serovar typhi in the dental pulp of three teeth from separate individuals, providing evidence for the cause of the plague being typhoid fever.

Description of the Burial

Bodies were found in five successive layers within the pit, with more care shown on the bottom levels and increasingly little care shown as the burial continued upwards. Bodies were thrown in haphazardly, their positions dictated by the shape of the pit. There was soil placed between the bodies only on the lower levels, and most of the offerings were also found on the lower levels of the burial. The eight children’s bodies were found on the upper-most level, and were covered with large shards of pottery.

The burial is considered to be related to the Athenian plague not only because of the chronology of the burial, but also because of the nature of the internment. The chaos caused by the Plague of Athens, as described by Thucydides, lends credence to the disordered nature of the pit indicating a plague burial. The pit is further thought to be a state burial, conducted for victims whose families could not afford proper burial rites and so the diseased victims were buried for the protection of the survivors.

Offerings

Offerings for the dead found within the burial consist of roughly 30 small vases. These vases were used to date the grave to 430-426 BCE based on the styles common during these years. Examples of the ceramics found within the pit include choes, a pelike, and numerous lekythoi. All of these pieces are common in quality and use, conferring little respect for the deceased and indicating a hasty burial. The excavator, Baziatopoulou, further remarks that the offerings are surprisingly few considering the number of dead buried within the pit. She then notes that this is especially true when taking into account the probable loss of one or more upper levels from prior intrusions into the burial, which would have brought the total persons buried up to approximately 150. The offerings found were scattered on the lower levels of the pit, fitting with the pattern of diminishing care as the burial continued upwards.

Child Burials

The eight children found buried within the pit are an exception to the pattern of diminishing care as the burial progressed. Found on the upper levels, these children were not thrown in the pit haphazardly but were instead placed with care and covered with shards of pottery. These are the only ceramics found in the pit that are outside of the lower levels, and this caused Biazatopoulou to comment that the children “seem to have been treated with special care.” Notably, one of the children’s faces was reconstructed by professor Manolis Papagrigorakis and the child is now known as Myrtis.

DNA evidence

The skeletal remains found within the pit were submitted to Greek orthodontics professor Manolis Papagrigorakis for examination. Upon analyzing dental pulp from the remains, he concluded that three subjects contained the bacterium Salmonella enterica serovar typhi, which results in typhoid fever. The pathogen responsible for the Athenian plague is much disputed, and this DNA evidence has caused scholars to view typhoid fever as a likely culprit. These are the only remains in connection with the Athenian plague to be analyzed.