Medieval Danes Buried Disease Sufferers Alongside Neighbors

Study finds social status, not illness, determined burial location in medieval Denmark

Published on Feb. 12, 2026

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A study of nearly 1,000 skeletons from medieval Danish cemeteries found that people with visible diseases like leprosy and tuberculosis were often buried alongside their healthy neighbors, challenging assumptions that the sick were excluded from high-status graves. The researchers found burial location was more closely tied to social rank and wealth than disease status, suggesting medieval communities were more variable in their responses to illness than commonly believed.

Why it matters

This research reshapes our understanding of how medieval societies dealt with health crises and disease outbreaks. It suggests stigma did not automatically dictate burial treatment, and that communities could balance fear with charity and shared ritual, even during epidemics. The findings warn against making assumptions about exclusion based solely on the presence of illness.

The details

The study examined 939 adult skeletons from five medieval Danish cemeteries, looking for signs of leprosy and tuberculosis. While leprosy rates varied by location, likely due to the presence of leprosaria in some towns, tuberculosis was far more common across sites. Surprisingly, those with skeletal signs of TB actually showed higher survivorship than those without lesions, likely because rapid TB deaths left no skeletal markers. Overall, the researchers found no strong evidence that visibly ill individuals were pushed to cemetery margins, with burial location following social rank more than disease status.

  • The study examined skeletons from cemeteries dating between 1050 and 1536 AD.
  • The findings were published in February 2026 in the journal Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology.

The players

Dr. Saige Kelmelis

Lead researcher on the study, from the University of South Dakota.

Vicki Kristensen

Researcher from the University of Southern Denmark, who collaborated on the study.

Dr. Dorthe Pedersen

Researcher from the University of Southern Denmark, who collaborated on the study.

Øm Kloster

A Cistercian monastery that was one of the rural cemetery sites examined in the study.

Ribe Grey Friars

An urban parish cemetery site included in the study.

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What they’re saying

“When we started this work, I was immediately reminded of the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, specifically the scene with the plague cart. I think this image depicts our ideas of how people in the past — and in some cases today — respond to debilitating diseases. However, our study reveals that medieval communities were variable in their responses and in their makeup. For several communities, those who were sick were buried alongside their neighbors and given the same treatment as anyone else.”

— Dr. Saige Kelmelis, Lead researcher (Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology)

The takeaway

This study challenges the common perception of medieval societies as uniformly cruel and exclusionary towards the sick, showing that in many communities, those with visible diseases like leprosy and tuberculosis were buried alongside their healthy neighbors, with social status mattering more than illness when it came to burial location and treatment. The findings offer a more nuanced understanding of how past communities responded to health crises.