A LOST medieval cemetery discovered under Cambridge University contained graves that had been pre-dug in anticipation of winter deaths, archaeologists have discovered.

    The huge graveyard was found during excavations beneath the Old Divinity School at St. John’s College during recent refurbishments.

    The mass cemetery, which was far larger than the small burial ground which archaeologists had expected, contained around about 1,300 burials, including about 400 complete skeletons.

    And experts made the sinister discovery that many of the skeletons did not fit their graves.

    An Archaeological Journal report on the excavation said: “This suggests that some, but not all of the graves may have been dug in advance of being needed.

    “One possibility is that this occurred prior to the winter, when ground conditions would have potentially made digging graves considerably more difficult.”

    The bodies, which mostly date from a period spanning the 13th to 15th centuries, are burials from the medieval Hospital of St. John the Evangelist which stood opposite the graveyard until 1511, and from which St. John’s College takes its name.

    Craig Cessford, from the university’s department of archaeology and anthropology, said it was one of the largest finds of its kind in the U.K. Although the existence and location of the cemetery have been known to historians since at least the mid-20th century, the sheer scale and extent of the burial ground was unclear until now.(SD-Agencies)