Wednesday, August 13, 2003

THIS ISN'T THE BODY OF ST. ANDREW and it's not even the remains of St. Regulus, but it's archaeology and it's in St. Andrews, about a block from my office:

Dig discovers dozens of St Andrews skeletons (Glasgow Herald)
ELEANOR COWIE

ARCHAEOLOGISTS have uncovered dozens of skeletons buried beneath the centre of St Andrews, casting fresh light on medieval attitudes to death.

Yesterday, they said the graveyard showed medieval Scots were less squeamish about living on top of the dead.

The remains were found during refurbishment of the public library next to Holy Trinity Church, in the town centre.

The centuries-old bones are believed to belong to people who attended the church, which was established in 1410.

Douglas Speirs, head of archaeology at Fife Council said it was a significant find.

"It shows us more about the evolution of one of Scotland's most well preserved medieval towns," he said.

Archaeologists have exhumed about 40 skeletons in the past fortnight and expect to find more by the end of their month-long excavation.

Tom Rees, of Rathmell Archaeology, who is leading the dig, said: "Research into this will have to be done, but what is known is that it wouldn't have made St Andrews a very attractive place to live."

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