Lead Mortuary Crosses from a London Burial Site

What it is

These are six small, roughly made lead crosses recovered during the excavation of a London cemetery. They were long believed to have been placed with victims of the Black Death outbreak of 1348–53. The object is held by the Wellcome Collection.

The crosses are plain and irregular in shape, with no decoration, suggesting they may have been produced quickly.

Why it matters

The crosses raise questions about how medieval and early modern communities responded to mass death. Some experts believed burial crosses protected the bodily remains of the dead, but archaeologists have since suggested these particular crosses may instead date to burials of prisoners who died of typhus in the 1700s, not plague victims at all. This uncertainty itself teaches something important: historical objects do not always come with clear answers.

Look closer

• Why might simple, roughly made objects be harder to date and interpret than finely crafted ones?
• What does the disagreement among archaeologists tell you about how historical evidence gets reinterpreted?
• Why might crosses have been thought to protect the dead?