The remains of adults and children found at an incent medieval site in England in 2004 have been identified as victims of a pogrom, The Guardian reported on Tuesday.
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Researchers first suspected that the remains of at least 17 individuals found in Norwich during construction at a site intended for a shopping center were victims of famine or disease, but analysis of the bones ruled this out. Three of the victims were sisters – one a young adult, one aged between 10 and 15, and one aged between five and 10 with brown eyes and dark hair.
"We don't know actually how they were murdered, but it seems most likely that they were," Dr. Selina Brace, lead author of the research from the Natural History Museum in London, told The Guardian.
The analysis also suggested that the bones were deposited in a well in the 12th or 13th centuries, which researchers said is consistent with a pogrom in Norwich in 1190 CE, described by chronicler Ralph de Diceto.
The discovery also provided new information about the genetic disorders often found among Jews of European ancestry, such as a predisposition to certain cancers and delayed puberty.
It showed that Ashkenazi Jews experienced a shrinkage in size, which is what leads to genetic disorders, before the 12th century – hundreds of years earlier than previously thought.
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