were spurred by priests and rulers to take up arms in a doomed effort to reconquer the Holy Land.
Much like many who came to fight and plunder before them, the soldiers’ long and arduous journeys ended with their deaths — all as a result of wounds they received in battle. But despite the widespread casualties, mass graves from this bloody period of history are incredibly difficult to find.
No mention of why they were really there.
Yep
They were defending their town against an invasion which the original article states. Live science seems to have ignored that, didn't they.
The skeletons date from the second half of the Crusader period, when Christian-held Sidon came under direct assault from both the Mamluk Sultanate (1253 CE) and the Ilkhanate Mongols (1260 CE). It is likely that those in the mass graves died during one of these assaults.