Mass grave discovered under Paris supermarket

Archaeologists have discovered more than 200 bodies buried under a popular supermarket chain in France.Eight graves containing between five and 20 individuals were found under a Monoprix store in Paris. Researchers knew the site used to be a hospital cemetery that operated from the 12th to the 17th century so they had to have archaeologists examine the space prior to construction.

The director of the supermarket told the Telegraph, "We thought that there would be a few bones as it was the site of a cemetery but we didn't think we would find a communal grave."

The bodies were buried during a dark time in France when diseases like the plague and smallpox took many lives.

The lead archaeologist said, "The fact that so many people were buried together, that the grave is this large, tends to show us that there was a major mortality crisis."

Archaeologists from the French National Institute of Preventive Archaeological Research now plan to carry out DNA tests to determine how they died.

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