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Rich medieval Christians bought graves 'closer to God' despite leprosy stigma, archaeologists find
Analysis of 939 medieval Danish skeletons shows burial placement reflected social status and church proximity, not disease, with urban leprosy cases at 3-9% and rural at 13%, researchers found.
- On February 12, 2026, a study published in Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology analyzed 939 adult skeletons from Ribe Grey Friars, Sejet, Øm Kloster, Drotten, and St. Mathias, finding diseased individuals buried alongside healthy neighbors.
- Researchers set out to test whether illness affected access to high-status graves by identifying leprosy and tuberculosis in 939 adult skeletons using skeletal lesion criteria and probabilistic scoring, then mapping burials relative to church structures and cemetery status zones.
- Site-by-Site analysis showed varied disease burdens: tuberculosis rates ranged from 21.8% to 32% at most sites, with Drotten unusually high at 51.6%, while sample coverage varied from 33% at Øm Kloster to over 89% at Ribe Grey Friars.
- Wealthy patrons were buried closer to churches regardless of disease status, tuberculosis survivors reflect longer-term survival, and Ribe showed higher TB rates in poorer burial areas.
- While the study reframes medieval attitudes, the authors warned of limitations including children excluded from analysis and diagnostic limits making prevalence minimum estimates; they urge genomic methods and more excavations under ethical oversight with funding from major foundations.
21 Articles
21 Articles
Monty Python Got It Wrong: 939 Skeletons Challenge Medieval Disease Myths
Leprosy carried powerful stigma in medieval Europe, but new skeletal evidence from Danish cemeteries suggests the sick were not always pushed aside in death. In medieval Denmark, burial location reflected social standing. Families who could afford it paid for graves closer to the church, where plots were considered more prestigious and therefore more expensive. Researchers [...]
Status, Not Sickness, Determined Where Medieval Danes Were Buried
The findings paint a more complex picture of medieval society than the plague-ridden, disease-obsessed world often portrayed in popular culture. The post Status, Not Sickness, Determined Where Medieval Danes Were Buried appeared first on StudyFinds.
Rich medieval Christians bought graves 'closer to God' despite leprosy stigma, archaeologists find
Medieval Christians in Denmark showed off their wealth in death by buying prestigious graves: the closer to the church, the higher the price. Researchers used these gravesites to investigate social exclusion based on illness, by studying whether people with leprosy—a highly stigmatized disease culturally associated with sin—or tuberculosis were kept out of the higher-status areas.
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