New crypt will provide final resting place for skeletons
● Remains to be re-interred after funding confirmed
remnants of burial garments, such as silk caps, discovered in some of the graves.
The bodies date from the late 1100s to the 17th century and were originally buried by the original parish church with the plots becoming covered in time as the building expanded.
Since their discovery, the remains have been stored by Aberdeen City Council with councillors yesterday agreeing to spend £50,000 on a new crypt as part of wider redevelopment of the Mither Kirk site.
Dr Arthur Winfield, project leader at the Openspace Trust which is working on the redevelopment, said: “This will be a significant step forward for us. We will be putting something back into the East Kirk.
“The skeletons are in storage and the moment and we are hoping, subject to the decision being taken by the council, of being able to bury them in a new crypt under the floor of the new building.
“We would like to see the remains re-interred by next Easter with a religious ceremony to be held at the crypt.”
Few records remain as to the identities of those found but several rounds of DNA testing have been carried out to establish any relationships between those buried.
The skeletons have also provided an invaluable source of information on Aberdeen’s medieval population such as them diseases and injuries suffered by them.
Syphilis was discovered in a post 15th-century burial along with tuberculosis and many examples of osteoarthritis.
Blunt force trauma to the head was found in at least four cases. One body carried at least four wounds made by a blade.
A number of skeletons will also be used in a study by Aberdeen University to determine the diet and nutrition of city dwellers over the centuries.
The redevelopment of the Mither Kirk site will cost up to £5.5 million with fundraising ongoing, Dr Winfield said.
It is planned to create a heritage centre in the heart of the city which will house Aberdeen’s impressive collection of medieval burgh records.