200 bodies found in mass grave beneath Paris supermarket

Archaeologists discover the remains of more than 200 people believed to have died from the plague hundreds of years ago

More than 200 bodies have been found laid out in neat rows in a communal grave beneath a supermarket in central Paris.

The site was formerly the cemetery of a hospital that functioned from the 12th to the 17th century but it was believed the corpses had been moved in the 18th century to the Paris Catacombs which house the bones of six million people transferred from the city’s cemeteries 200 years ago.

Archaeologists, called in by the Monoprix supermarket to inspect the site before building work was due to be carried out, had expected to find some remains but were astonished to find the large collection of bodies neatly laid out in the earth of the store’s basement. Read more.