Church Plans to Dig Up 400 Graves

Over 400 bodies are known to be buried under a parking lot in Hamilton Ontario.  Richard Beasley, an early settler, is one of those buried there.

Christ Church Cathedral now plans to dig up the graves, identify them, and re-bury them so that they can build a 12-storey condo.

“It’s time that we stopped parking on top of those people,” said the Very Rev. Peter Wall, rector of Christ’s Church Cathedral, in a presentation to councillors Wednesday. “They need to be released from asphalt hell.”

The graveyard opened in 1832 and 20 years later it was closed. Many headstones were moved at that time but the bodies were left behind. The Cathedral has gathered and saved 24 tombstones which they are storing in the church basement.

From a personal viewpoint, many of my Peer ancestors as well as my Burkholder ancestors died in the Hamilton area in the early to mid 1800s. I am hopeful their remains will be found and identified.

Continue reading the full story at Hamilton church aims to dig up hundreds of graves from ‘asphalt hell’ for condo tower

Credit: Image of Christ Church Cathedral in Public Domain found on Wikipedia

A Hunch Helps Find a Medieval City in a Field

A farmer's field in Wales held the lost city of Trellech but no one knew it. At one point in history Trellech which was settled in the 13th century, was a boomtown, with as many as 10,000 inhabitants. Then it disappeared, destroyed by famine, disease and finally, a 15th century massacre.

Over time the exact location of Trellech was lost to memory. But Scott Wilson, a member of the local Monmouth Archaeological Society, began to look more closely at  pottery shards that kept turning up in molehills.

Wilson ended up purchasing a farm where he suspected the lost city might be found and his hunch was proven correct.

Read more about Wilson's Lost City of Trellech Project and read the full story of his find on the National Post story The lost city of Wales: Amateur archaeologist plays a hunch and finds a medieval metropolis in a field

Credits: Image is a screenshot from The National Post

Bronze Age Woman Ava Comes to Life

A young woman who died over 2,700 years ago has come to life with a facial reconstruction of her skull. Her skull and teeth were found at Achavanich in Caithness in 1987.

Reconstructing the face of an individual from Britain so many years ago is a fascinating task. 

Continue reading the fascinating story Facial reconstruction made of Bronze Age woman 'Ava'

You might also enjoy the BBC article Effort to unlock secrets of 3,700-year-old woman 'Ava' 
 
Image credit: Screenshot from BBC News

Excavations to be carried out after 50 human skeletons found on Welsh beach

This story by Rachael Misstear was recently posted on Wales Online 

"Almost 50 skeletons dating to the 7th and 11th centuries have already been uncovered by archaeologists at dunes in Whitesands Bay, St Davids"

The archaelogical dig at an early medieval chapel should reveal details about life in Wales a thousand years ago.

"Many [skeletons] were in ‘cist’ graves – long graves lined with stone slabs. Child graves were also found decorated with layers of quartz pebbles and limpet shells."

This is another fascinating story. It's incredible what ancient skeletons can reveal to us.