Mass Plague Graves Found on Venice "Quarantine" Island

ramsesemerson

8-31-2007 4:54 PM

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://www.clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/212edecd-5bc5-4aef-9e6d-c192a0494434/90C33501-0177-45C0-8B30-30B89F9DF03C/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/08/070829-venice-plague.html" href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/08/070829-venice-plague.html" style="font-size: 11px;">news.nationalgeographic.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/08/070829-venice-plague.html"><P class="intro">
Ancient mass graves containing more than 1,500 victims of the bubonic plague have been discovered on a small island in <A href="http://www3.nationalgeographic.com/places/countries/country_italy.html" linkindex="33" set="yes">Italy</A>'s Venetian Lagoon.
</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/08/070829-venice-plague.html">
The island is believed to be the world's first lazaret—a quarantine colony intended to help prevent the spread of infectious diseases.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/08/070829-venice-plague.html"><P>
The lazaret was opened during the plague outbreaks that decimated Venice, as well as much of Europe, throughout the 15th and 16th centuries A.D.
</P><P>
Its presence may have helped Venice recover more quickly during the devastating outbreaks.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/08/070829-venice-plague.html">
"When plague struck the town, everybody sick or showing any suspect symptom were restricted on the island until they recovered or died," said Luisa Gambaro, an anthropologist of the University of Padua.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/08/070829-venice-plague.html"><div align="center"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/news.nationalgeographic.com/img/4D0A6DDE-6C6E-498A-A5F8-7FCC441E9B88" alt="Mass bubonic plague victim graves picture" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/08/070829-venice-plague.html"><P>
"In the last three years we collected more than 1,500 corpses and 150 boxes of artifacts," he added. "We estimate there are still thousands of skeletons buried beneath every meadow in Lazzaretto Vecchi."
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tags:

archaeology, italy, plague

2 Comments |

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5-10-2008 11:11 AM

katknit

We've passed this island on boat trips in the lagoon. Thanks for the interesting clip. Plague and Italy, along with medieval art and folklore , are favorite subjects of mine.

5-11-2008 10:31 AM