Document record MAB56909 - YORK PLACE, FOOTDEE

Burials recorded in the late 19th century, and during excavation for new drain in 1987, since shown to be plague burials.

Burials recorded in the late 19th century, and during excavation for new drain in 1987, since shown to be plague burials. In 1987 human bones were discovered in York Place, Footdee during the digging of drainage trenches. Analysis of the remains suggests that there was the complete skull of an adult female, the fragmentary skull of a young adult and the mandible (lower jaw) of a middle-aged adult. No dental surgery was noted and there was evidence of an untreated abscess on the young adult individual. They were probably the remains of some of the victims of the 1647 plague, which killed 1500-2000 people in Aberdeen out of a total population of around 8000. This was the last and most serious of a series of epidemics in Aberdeen. At the end of 1646 the town was threatened with plague from the south, but the local magistrates took stringent precautions to protect the burgh. All ports (town gates) were closed to traffic and the harbour was put under armed guard. Plague sufferers were sent out of the town to spend their final days on the Queen's Links - an area of the dunes where York Street and York Place now stands. When they died they were simply buried in the sand. The City's accounts show a charge of £153 6s 8d for burying the dead and for 37000 turves to cover the graves and stop the sand blowing away. The remains had probably been disturbed during earlier building works nearby, possibly in 1891, when sewer construction is said to have uncovered a large number of skeletons. Re-development in York Place, in the area where the previous bones were found, was monitored by an archaeologist in 2000 but no further burials were discovered. The finds from this site are in the collections of Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums. Further analysis and radiocarbon dating of the remains was carried out in 2024. The skeletal material contained a minimum of four individuals, three adults (two female) and one pre-adult. Three gave radiocarbon dates between 1440 and 1643 and each tested positive for the plague bacterium, Y Pestis.

COUNCIL FOR SCOTTISH ARCHAEOLOGY, 1988, DISCOVERY AND EXCAVATION IN SCOTLAND 1987, pp.17-18 (Bibliographic reference). SAB8215.

DENNISON, E, 1997, HISTORIC ABERDEEN: THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS OF DEVELOPMENT. THE SCOTTISH BURGH SURVEY, p. 84-5 (Bibliographic reference). SAB4057.

DITTMAR, J, 2024, THE FINAL PLAGUE OUTBREAK IN SCOTLAND 1644-1649: HISTORICAL, ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND GENETIC EVIDENCE. (Bibliographic reference). SAB4073.

Record last edited

Dec 24 2024 9:25AM