Mass plague burials underlie Venetian island

Ancient mass graves containing more than 1,500 victims of the bubonic plague have been discovered on a small island in Italy's Venetian Lagoon.

Workers came across the skeletons while digging the foundation for a new museum on Lazzaretto Vecchio, a small island in the lagoon's south, located a couple of miles from Venice's famed Piazza San Marco (see a map of the Venetian Lagoon).

The island is believed to be the world's first lazaret—a quarantine colony intended to help prevent the spread of infectious diseases.

The lazaret was opened during the plague outbreaks that decimated Venice, as well as much of Europe, throughout the 15th and 16th centuries A.D.

From National Geographic. Interesting that the plague proved more devastating in the 16th century than in the 15th. Photos here.

ADDENDUM: This writeup at the BBC also mentions some other finds:

The Venetian authorities are surveying two ancient ships found beside the lost island of San Marco in Boccalama that disappeared beneath the rising lagoon over 500 years ago.

The island - the site of an abandoned 11th century monastery - became a mass grave for scores of thousands of victims of the plague, the Black Death, in 1348.

Now, on what was the foreshore, they're unearthing the two oldest ships ever found in Venice - sunk by the island's monks in a doomed attempt to bolster sea defences against the encroaching lagoon.

The ships are some 700 years old; one is reportedly a galley. It doesn't appear that full excavation will be possible, however, due to the usual problem -- shortage of funds:

At the end of this month, part of a steel barrier will be lowered and the lagoon waters will once again cover the lost island.

That is thought to be the best way of preserving the vessels until, at a future date, they can be salvaged and brought to a museum. . .

But in Venice's naval museum there is disquiet at the authority's decision to leave the ancient wrecks where they are for the moment.

Posted by David on August 30, 2007 2:08 PM