“Cold Case” Of 17 People Thrown Into A Well In England 800 Years Ago Possibly Solved
YouTubeThe bodies in the well were arranged in such a way that it appeared that they’d been thrown in head first.
The construction of a new shopping mall in Norwich, England, in 2004, unearthed two startling finds. The first was an 800-year-old medieval well. The second was a collection of bones at the bottom of the well. These bones belonged to 17 people whose demise baffled researchers.
In 2022, DNA analysis offered some answers. A new study about the bodies in the medieval well made history news worldwide when it suggested that the people in the well had likely been Ashkenazi Jews, who may have been murdered during an antisemitic massacre in February 1190.
Researchers were able to extract DNA from six of the 17 people in the well — who appeared to have been tossed in head first — and study the hereditary material. They found that the six people were “almost certainly” Ashkenazi Jews and that four of the six were related to each other.
Though it’s possible that they perished in 1190, radiocarbon dating suggests that they could’ve died between 1161 and 1216. That means that they could’ve been killed during a different period, possibly the Great Revolt of 1174.
Following the discovery, researchers decided to give the remains found in the well a dignified burial. They were laid to rest in a Jewish cemetery in Norwich, and they were honored with a commemorative plaque.
“They were correctly buried in the right graveyard and with the right religious rites,” study author Ian Barnes explained. “It took more than 800 years, but [they] got there in the end.”
