Burial Trench Discovered at Waterloo Battlefield

Archaeology Magazine ^ | September 11, 2024 | editors / unattributed

[SunkenCiv]

The Independent reports that a trench containing human and animal remains has been excavated at the site of a British field hospital at Mont-Saint-Jean farm in Belgium by members of Waterloo Uncovered, an organization that offers veterans an opportunity to participate in archaeology and receive wellbeing support. The Battle of Waterloo was fought on June 18, 1815, and resulted in the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte and the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The human and animal remains in the recently discovered trench were separated by a barrier made of soldiers’ ammunition boxes. "The layout of the trench, with all animal remains on one side of the ammunition-box-barrier and all the human remains on the other, strongly suggests that the men who buried this individual attempted to offer him a level of dignity and respect despite the horrific scene they would have found themselves facing while clearing the field hospital of the dead," said archaeologist Tony Pollard of the University of Glasgow. The other side of the trench held the bones of an ox and at least seven horses. At least three of the horses had been euthanized with a musket ball to the head, Pollard said, and several of them may have been butchered, he concluded.

[oldplayer]

Exact numbers are in question. But, it’s generally agreed that at least 10,000 soldiers were killed outright on the battlefield. At least that many horses were strewn there, too. (Many, many wounded left the field that day only to die in the weeks and months following.)

Burying that many bodies and dead horses, in even shallow graves, would have been a herculean and miserable task. It’s interesting and comforting to know that some burials, as this one, were done with as much dignity as possible.

SunkenCiv, thank you for your many excellent posts.

[linMcHlp]

I am guessing, a fellow devoted to logistics and supplying his fellow troops . . . who were grateful.

[jmacusa]

I read Harrison's Salsibury’s “The 900 Days. The Siege of Leningrad'' years ago. Grim stuff. Over a million Leningraders are buried in Piskaryovskoye Memorial Cemetery.

[Rockingham]

I read it as well. The savagery on the Eastern Front in WW II is astonishing. I have read that large sections of the battlefields there are still thinly populated today. After the end of the Cold War, there was a spate of tank and aircraft recoveries by professional restorers.