Cultural history is plagued by the plague. The Black Death stalks through history pages captivating and horrifying us at the same time, even Shakespeare used the threat of the plague in his plays to curse his characters. Most modern humans see the plague as something of the past, a historical disease far removed from modern day living and experience.
However the plague has once again raised its head.
In October 2017 the World Heath Organisation issued a warning to nine countries including South Africa that they were at risk of contracting the plague through trade with Madagascar which had lost 124 people to the Yersina pestis bacteria by the 26th of October 2017.
This warning and the slew of news articles written about the potential outbreak reminded me of some research I had done a few years ago about early Johannesburg.
In 2013 and 2014 Newtown Junction was being built. At the time I was asked to be involved in the building process as the excavators had been digging up a great deal of artefacts. I went along to the site and was greeted with a stratigraphic column containing a 30 cm layer of what looked like glass glued together with ash. It looked like something you would expect to find near a volcano or at the sight of a devastating fire.
I had to know what happened.
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