More than 1,000 skeletons from Copenhagen’s 19th-century poor cemetery are being excavated

The skeletons are the remains of people buried in the city's "poor cemetery" in the 19th century. The vast majority were buried without a large headstone, grand words or any clear place in the history books.

The reason they are being dug up now is that the park, in the Nørrebro district, is to be converted into a so-called “green area.” This means, among other things, that it will be able to collect large amounts of water after heavy rain to prevent flooding.

But the excavation can also shed new light on the lives of the poor at the time:

“We can use them to gain insight into the poor population from that time and the history of Copenhagen,” says Olivia Persson, one of several archaeologists taking part in the excavation on behalf of the Museum of Copenhagen, to DR.