‘Bodies were dropped down quarry shafts’: secrets of millions buried in Paris catacombs come to light

Researchers hope to uncover how people died and how diseases have developed over 1,000 years

Deep beneath the streets of Paris, thedead are having their last word. They are recounting 1,000 years of death in the city: how many are buried in the labyrinth of tunnels that make up Les Catacombes, what killed them and how the diseases that may have led to their demise have developed over the centuries.

In the first ever scientific study of the site, a team of archeologists, anthropologists, biologists and doctors is examining some of the skeletons of an estimated 5-6 million people whose bones were literally dumped down quarry shafts at the end of the 18th century and beginning of the 19th.