The archaeology of early medieval violence: the mass grave at Budeč, Czech Republic

Štefan, Ivo; Stránská, Petra; Vondrová, Hana

doi:10.15184/aqy.2016.29

Cited by 4 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…In many bioarchaeological studies only very small amounts of evidence, if any, can be drawn from written accounts referring to particular events in the past (Štefan et al, ). However, in the present study we had access to detailed contextual information, which come from different sources, among others, the chronicles of Pufendorf () and Czarnecki ().…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

“…As such, massacre should be regarded as a process and not the result of a single event (Klusemann, ). The main purpose of such mass executions was to neutralize opponents, in both real and symbolic terms (Štefan, Stránská, & Vondrová, ). The mass grave created after the massacre contains the remains of multiple victims that display the presence of traumatic injuries, share some common traits connected with the cause and manner of death, and do not exhibit any order in orientation, indicating disregard for the manner of deposition (Knüsel, ; Komar, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As such, massacre should be regarded as a process and not the result of a single event (Klusemann, 2012). The main purpose of such mass executions was to neutralize opponents, in both real and symbolic terms (Štefan, Stránská, & Vondrová, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Victims of a 17th century massacre in Central Europe: Perimortem trauma of castle defenders

Łukasik

Krenz‐Niedbała

Zdanowicz

et al. 2019

Intl J of Osteoarchaeology

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Interments of massacre victims typically differ from normal funerary practices. Bodies are commonly not orderly buried but are thrown into a single grave‐pit and exhibit multiple perimortem traumatic injuries. Although perimortem skeletal trauma constitutes the most direct and unambiguous evidence for violence and warfare in the past, analysis should take contextual information into account. The aim of our research is to examine the skeletal evidence of interpersonal violence in the remains of defenders of a castle in Gołańcz, Poland, who were killed in ad 1656 during the Polish‐Swedish War. This event is well documented in the historical sources, thereby providing the detailed socio‐cultural context. Standard anthropological methods were used to estimate age‐at‐death and biological sex. Macroscopic morphological features developed by forensic anthropologists were applied to distinguish between ante mortem, perimortem, and post mortem traumas. Descriptive and metric attributes were analysed for each injury. Of the 25 skeletons recovered from a mass grave, 22 displayed evidence of perimortem trauma. In total, 90 injuries were found, mainly consisting of sharp‐force trauma. These included 79 injuries to the skull, two injuries to the teeth, and nine injuries to the postcranial skeleton. Multiple traumatic lesions were found in 15 individuals (68.1%). The most prevalent were sharp‐force trauma (21 individuals, 95.5%), followed by blunt‐force trauma (two individuals, 9.1%.), with high‐velocity projectile wounds being least common (one individual, 4.5%). Two individuals had their teeth broken off in the perimortem period. Our study revealed that the inhabitants of Gołańcz were subjected to an extreme level of interpersonal violence, as evidenced by the location, pattern, and distribution of the observed traumatic injuries. From archaeological and historical data, it is known that the event took place during the Swedish invasion into Poland. Our data demonstrate that violence was inflicted not only upon men but also upon women and children. These findings are in contrast to written accounts, which maintain that the Swedish army spared women and children during the attack, and as such show bias inherent to culture‐related sources of information.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Victims of a 17th century massacre in Central Europe: Perimortem trauma of castle defenders

Łukasik

Krenz‐Niedbała

Zdanowicz

et al. 2019

Intl J of Osteoarchaeology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In most cases where human remains have been found in connection with battlefields or scenes of brutal violence, the bodies have been buried in mass graves (e.g. Ingelmark 1939; Biers 1992; Fiorato et al 2000; Kjellström 2005; Štefan et al 2016). This is not the case at Sandby borg, where victims were instead left where they had been killed.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The demographic composition of the victims at Sandby borg includes people of all ages, which is peculiar; the victims of battlefield violence usually represent particular segments of a population—people who have actively participated in acts of warfare (e.g. Štefan et al 2016).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A moment frozen in time: evidence of a late fifth-century massacre at Sandby borg

Alfsdotter¹,

Papmehl-Dufay²,

Victor³

2018

Antiquity

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Tracing the Saqaliba: Slave Trade and the Archaeology of the Slavic Lands in the Tenth Century

Jankowiak

2021

Themes in Contemporary Archaeology

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The archaeology of early medieval violence: the mass grave at Budeč, Czech Republic

Abstract: Abstract

Cited by 4 publications

References 19 publications

Victims of a 17th century massacre in Central Europe: Perimortem trauma of castle defenders

Victims of a 17th century massacre in Central Europe: Perimortem trauma of castle defenders

A moment frozen in time: evidence of a late fifth-century massacre at Sandby borg

Tracing the Saqaliba: Slave Trade and the Archaeology of the Slavic Lands in the Tenth Century

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