The Deadly Viruses That Vanished Without Trace
upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:
The deadly viruses that vanished without trace:
Scientists are only just starting to unravel why some viruses disappear, while others can linger and cause disease for centuries.
It was the year 1002. The English king Ethelred II - not-so-fondly remembered as "AEthelred the unready" - was at war. For over a century, Viking armies had been scoping out the land as a potential new home, under the command of leaders with well-groomed facial hair and evocative names, such as Swein Forkbeard.
So far, the Vikings had found the English resistance enticingly weak. But Ethelred had decided to make a stand. On 13 November, he ordered for every Danish man in the country to be rounded up and killed. Hundreds perished, and the incident went down in history as the St Brice's Day massacre. Ethelred's brutal act proved to be in vain, and eventually most of England was ruled by Forkbeard's son.
But what was a bad day to be a Viking in England was a gift for modern archaeologists. Over a thousand years later, 37 skeletons - thought to belong to some of the executed victims - were discovered on the grounds of St John's College in Oxford. Buried with them was a secret.
Read more of this story at SoylentNews.