A Norwich Mystery: Seventeen Bodies Found in a Well

As suggested by popular BBC documentary "The Bodies in the Well":

The remains of 17 bodies found at the bottom of a medieval well in England could have been victims of persecution. Investigation results were on the one hand sensational and on the other one - sad as it indicated that bodies, thrown in the well, could be Jewish victims of anti-Jewish Norwich violence and persecutions.

Research team stated that:
Seven skeletons were successfully tested and five of them had a DNA sequence suggesting they were likely to be members of a single Jewish family.
DNA expert Dr Ian Barnes, who carried out the tests, said: "This is a really unusual situation for us. This is a unique set of data that we have been able to get for these individuals.
"I am not aware that this has been done before - that we have been able to pin them down to this level of specificity of the ethnic group that they seem to come from."

BBC documentary showed horrific story of Jewish life in England and made many to believe that bodies found in the well were of Jewish descent. Seventeen suspected victims of religious persecution, found at the bottom of a Norwich well are buried an estimated 800 years after their deaths in a service in the Jewish Cemetery in Earlham Cemetery, Norwich.

However, the story behind sensational BBC documentary is the lack of evidence that remains belonged to Jews
First of all, thorough analysis of DNA marker sequences doesn't confirm that bones belong to Jewish persons. What DNA analysis shows us is that we know that of the three sampled individuals two were related, either as father and child or as uncle and nephew/niece. We don't have any scientific arguments to believe that bodies in the well were Jews and not Christians. Other acknowledged facts, surrounding the story of Norwich mistery are: a) that 17 bodies were found in the well and b) it dates back to 1150-1300 according to C14 analysis.

We don't know if bodies thrown in the well were dead or they were still alive and died after crucial act. We don't know exactly what their ethnicity is and Jewish attribution is pure speculation.

I would like to commemorate all violent Jewish deaths in England determined by rising anti-Jewish resentment but in case of Norwich we don't know if remains in the well should be associated with this historical pattern of medieval history. It shows us how powerful narative of popular and well made TV documentary is despite it lacks scientific evidence.