The presence of everyday items on the bodies may also indicate a more sudden death outside the sick bed, possibly indicating the occurrence of septicaemic plague. That the bodies were interred seemingly fully clothed and the corpses not rifled prior to burial strongly indicates a fear of the diseased corpse. Artefacts including keys, coins, sewing kits and combs were recovered. All age groups were present except neonates.

Adults represent 68.3% while non‐adults represent 31.7%. A total of 81 individuals were interred at the site. Phase 4 comprised levelling deposits, which were likely associated with the construction of the school and the demolition of the 19th-century smallpox hospital located to the north of the site. Phase 3 comprised a series of waste disposal pits of 19th-century date.

Dendrochronological analysis revealed a terminus post quem felling date of c 1640 for the coffin wood, while analysis of the coffins’ manufacture revealed hasty construction methods. The lack of infectious pathognomic skeletal lesions, the dating of the finds, the dendrochronological analysis of the coffin wood and technological data, along with the known historic land-use of the area, all indicate that the burial ground relates to the 1645 outbreak of plague in Leith. The archaeological excavation revealed four phases of activity Phases 1 and 2 comprised coffined and uncoffined human burials. In 2016, Wardell Armstrong undertook an archaeological excavation at St Mary’s (Leith) RC Primary School, Edinburgh (NGR: NT 27750 75980).

City of the plague god series