the earth reveals its dead

[forthwritten]

News today that workers digging a Crossrail tunnel had discovered a 14th century plague pit. Plague pits disrupting train routes are not new but I love the idea of histories buried under our feet, the unknown/once-known dead lying underground, London's forgotten geographies, London's ghostworlds and London as a palimpsest with layers and layers of stuff, half-erased and old or bold and crisp and new.

BBC article
Guardian article
New Scientist article

Comments

[cleo]

I read about that! So interesting.

[ephemera]

I love the idea of histories buried under our feet, the unknown/once-known dead lying underground, London's forgotten geographies, London's ghostworlds and London as a palimpsest with layers and layers of stuff, half-erased and old or bold and crisp and new. - and this is exactly why I am giving serious consideration to going back to school for Moar London Stuff, to get a better sense of some of the layers ;)