Newly-found skeletons in Denmark leave archaeologists with mystery

The recent discovery of several skeletons in the Danish capital of Copenhagen has left archaeologists with a mystery, a Danish archaeologist told Xinhua.

In early March, archaeologists from the Museum of Copenhagen excavated nine complete skeletons dating back to between 1666 and 1760, including six children.

Unearthed by a local energy company digging to install a new district heating system, the bones were found lying in coffins next to the Copenhagen City Hall.

"We do not know exactly what killed these particular skeletons ...They are all healthy and they do not show any signs of chronic illness," said Jacob Mosekilde, an archaeologist with the Museum of Copenhagen, who specializes in skeletal anatomy.

Mosekilde believed that one clue to the death cause is the date of the skeletons. In 1711, Denmark suffered a death march of the bubonic plague which killed one third of Copenhagen's population.

"So the most likely explanation, which may never be proven, is that they probably died quickly, of a bubonic plague," Mosekilde said.

However, after more than three centuries underground, the skeletons do not contain any discernible trace of the bubonic plague bacteria, making it impossible to identify the definite cause of death.

The skeletons were excavated at what used to be the site of a 17th-century hospital for the sick, poor, and elderly, which adjoined to a cemetery. [ Part of the cemetery was used by nearby Royal Orphanage, indicating that the six children skeletons might be the orphans from the institution.

"As the cemetery was shared by a hospital for the elderly and an orphanage, you get a span of small children who died from epidemics and infectious diseases, and older individuals who died from age-related sickness but also epidemics and diseases," Mosekilde said.

Meanwhile, the bones do not bear the marks of wounds or blows, such as those inflicted by weapons, indicating that these persons did not die violently.

Another factor adding to the misery of the dead was the careful burial of the nine skeletons who lied in coffins made of solid pine wood held together with well-crafted wooden nails, said Stine Wozniak, an archaeologist with the Museum of Copenhagen who helped excavate the skeletons.

A city reeling under a plague epidemic would have been unlikely to bury its dead with care. Many European's historical records of the plague speak of bodies being buried rapidly, often in mass graves, to help prevent the spread of the disease.

Meanwhile, if the hospital served the poor and destitute children, it was hard to explain who would have paid for such careful burials, Wozniak said.

"The skeletons do not provide us these clues," Wozniak said. "They are lying nicely, in nice coffins, and it looks like someone has taken the time to give them a proper burial. They do not seem to have been hastily buried."

More answers may emerge as the archaeologists continue to analyze the skeletons. They will also study their bone composition to determine what diseases or health conditions they may have suffered from in their lifetimes.