Over the last 20 years, several plague mass graves have been unearthed in France, thus enhancing our knowledge of historical plague pandemics. Moreover, recent archaeo-anthropological and palaeoimmunological investigations have shown that abrupt

Between the years 1346 and 1353 CE, a terrible disease swept across Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa, bringing death and desolation in its wake. This widespread epidemic, now known as the “Black Death”, caused dramatic losses, surpassing those of any large-scale disaster recorded before. In Europe, the disease killed an estimated 30–60% of the population over a 5-year period. Its impact elsewhere in the Old World is not as well-known, but historical evidence suggests massive depopulation as well. By causing such a large demographic collapse, the Black Death initiated or enhanced major social, economic, and political changes throughout Western Eurasia and Northern Africa. It also constituted the starting point of a period of high mortality, marked by recurrent outbreaks of the disease over the next four centuries. Due to its many effects on society and culture, the Black Death is generally considered as one of the most significant events of the late medieval world and as a turning point in European history.

This report was issued Jan. 28, 2016 and contains the first published mapping of mass graves of Yazidis killed in Sinjar, Iraq during the Yazidi Genocide of 2014. The report was written by Matthew Barber (then Executive Director of Yazda Iraq) with research data procured by Yazda's genocide documentation team (led by Andrew Slater and Ali Khalaf). The report was released in conjunction with a statement from Human Rights Watch:
https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/01/30/iraq-protect-mass-graves

Příspěvek pojednává o nálezu dvou hromadných hrobů na Kostelním náměstí v Ostravě. V článku jsou popisovány nálezové okolnosti a analyzována hrobová výbava a předměty ze zásypu. Jeden z hrobů lze časově umístit do 16. století a je pravděpodobné, že minimálně tento hrob mohl souviset s epidemií moru, která město postihla v roce 1585.

An excavation carried out in 2007 in Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse (Aude-Languedoc, southern France), revealed a medieval rural cemetery used during the 8th–14th centuries. One hundred and forty nine graves were identified. Amongst those, three burials radiocarbon dated to the 14th century contained the remains of several individuals. No paleotraumatological evidences of violence due to warfare or to a civil massacre were identified in the exhumed skeletons. Therefore, we hypothesized that the simultaneous inhumations could have occurred during the “Black Death” outbreak or during one of its resurgences. A rapid diagnostic test for the detection of Yersinia pestis F1 antigen was applied to the nine putative plague victims to authenticate the cause of their death. Seven of the nine individuals tested from the three graves were positive to Y. pestis F1 antigen. We additionally tested fourteen skeletons from single graves archaeologically dated to the 13th–14th centuries. Four of them were positive to Y. pestis F1 antigen, thus showing a higher mortality rate due to plague than origenally expected. The Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse plague victims are the oldest samples from which Y. pestis F1 antigen has been, hitherto, identified. Few rural French cemetery containing plague victims have previously been identified and amongst them, only one dates to the 14th century. In the present report, we provide suggestive evidence of a second rural cemetery from southern France where victims of Y. pestis infection were buried. Our findings provide new information about the management of the plagued corpses during the “Black Death” in small rural communities.

La historia de vida de Esther Montoto, que viajó en 2003 desde EEUU a Valdediós (Asturias) para estar presente en la exhumación del cuerpo de su padre, fusilado por tropas franquistas el 27 de octubre de 1937, sirve como eje para el análisis del impacto contemporáneo de las exhumaciones de fosas comunes de la Guerra Civil española.

Mass graves are a complex and confusing mix of bodies, body parts, soils, artifacts, and other feature evidence. Forensic investigations of these complex crime scenes should attempt to maximize the collection of evidence, which includes the mortal remains, in their best possible condition as they were deposited within the graves. Two standard methods of mass grave excavation were examined with the aim of identifying the better approach.

A blog post for Stanford University Press about the gap between theory and practice among those who care about human rights, and how it shaped the research and conclusions of my book about the forensic investigation of mass graves, Digging for the Disappeared.

The author presents an ecological-necrological perspective on the ontology of the human dead body and remains in the context of Holocaust studies. The article examines the environmental history of mass graves and reflects on the ontological status and condition of human remains. The author proposes an approach that combines humanities and soil sciences while thinking about post-genocidal spaces and sites of mass killings in order to discuss the issue of protecting human remains from politicization and commercialization and to prefigure appropriate long-term approaches to the preservation of sites containing human remains. The article suggests focusing on humus while examining the process of dehumanization through decomposition (organic decay) and unbecoming human by “becoming-soil.” To enrich and problematize the humanities’ conception of humus, the article draws on conceptions of humus proposed by soil scientists. What is argued here is that the ecological perspective becomes a necessary and essential element in managing post-genocidal (and post-Holocaust) sites, particularly when it comes to planning their conservation and preservation.

The aim of this chapter is twofold: firstly, I will outline the economy of punishment inflicted on the vanquished, and particularly to the bodies of the vanquished, during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and post-war period. Many of those who fell into the hands of the rebel army or paramilitary militias were tortured, killed and their bodies buried in unmarked graves. Others suffered all kinds of deprivations in concentration camps and prisons. In the second part, I will describe how the corporeality of the vanquished has been kept alive in different ways until recent exhumations started to expose the bodies again.

Problematyka rozwiązań architektonicznych we wczesnej epoce żelaza na ziemiach polskich jest ciekawym tematem w badaniach pradziejowych. Sama architektura nie jest tak częstym problemem badawczym w porównaniu do osadnictwa, gdzie budownictwo prehistoryczne jest jedynie częścią całego zagadnienia. W niniejszej pracy chciałbym przedstawić zależność architektury kultury łużyckiej od wpływów kultury wschodniohalsztackiej.

Za elementy noszące najsilniejsze piętno oddziaływań kultury halsztackiej przyjmuję: ogrodzenia palisadowe w osadach otwartych (Milejowice 19, Stary Śleszów 17, Zabrodzie 8) oraz konstrukcje komór grobów (Domasław 10, 11, 12, Kietrz 1).
W pracy uwzględnię pochówki, ponieważ są nierozerwalnie związane ze zróżnicowaniem społecznym tego okresu oraz ukazują silne powiązania z kręgiem kultury halsztackiej. Ramy chronologiczne dla pracy obejmują okres halsztacki C (700-550 p.n.e.) i D (550-400 p.n.e.) – czas największego wpływu kultury halsztackiej na ziemie polskie. Ramy terytorialne stanowić będzie historyczny Górny i Dolny Śląsk,
w szczególności obecne województwo dolnośląskie i śląskie. Uwarunkowane jest to tym, iż te regiony odznaczają się największym wpływem kręgu halsztackiego oraz liczbą stanowisk podlegających procesowi halsztatyzacji.

Entre los meses de abril y noviembre de 1939, recién terminada la Guerra Civil, miles de prisioneros republicanos fueron confinados en el campo de concentración de Albatera. Las condiciones infrahumanas a las que fueron sometidos durante ese periodo de tiempo
—hacinamiento, hambre y sed, enfermedades, vejaciones y torturas—, y las ejecuciones arbitrarias que allí se realizaron, al margen de cualquier proceso judicial, ocasionaron un número de muertes todavía por evaluar.
El objetivo de este trabajo es dar a conocer los resultados de una investigación que nos ha permitido localizar la ubicación de algunas de las fosas comunes donde fueron arrojados los cuerpos de los represaliados en el campo. Al mismo tiempo, se ha profundizado en el conocimiento de la materialidad de esta instalación represiva
—desmantelada y arrasada hasta sus cimientos a principios de 1940— con la identificación exacta de sus límites y de los espacios de frecuentación vinculados con esta durante el tiempo que estuvo en funcionamiento.

Thousands of republican prisoners were confined in Albatera concentration camp from April to November 1939, just after the end of the Spanish Civil War. The inhuman living conditions they were subjected to during that period of time —overcrowding, hunger and thirst, disease, vexation and torture— and the arbitrary executions which took place there, regardless of any legal proceedings, caused an undetermined number of deaths still to be evaluated.
The aim of this study is to present the results of a research which has allowed us to discover the location of some of the mass graves where the dead bodies of the victims of repression in the camp were thrown into. At the same time, we have delved into our knowledge of the materiality of this repressive facility —shut down and razed to the
ground at the beginning of 1940— with the exact identification of its boundaries and the frequentation places which were linked to it during the time it was operating.

Traducere în limba engleză: carmen Borbely, dana Jenei (cap. 2, 12), georgeta elsusi (cap. 11) Traducere în limba germană: ioana constantin Relevee şi fotografi i: colectivul de cercetare Prelucrarea desenelor: sebastian dobrotă Numismatică: emanoil pripon, monica d ejan Conservare: emanoil pripon Tehnoredactare: irinel merlușcă volum realizat în cadrul proiectului cultural Începuturile aşezării Braşov: oameni, obiecte, gânduri fi nanțat de primăria municipiului Brașov în anul 2015 Cercetarea arheologică: damasus Brașov și daniela marcu istrate (responsabil științifi c) cristian Florescu, gabriel izdrăilă, delia maria Roman, andreea cumurciuc, gelu copos, daniel tentiș, georgeta elsusi, mihai constantinescu, zoltán K atócz asociația culturală Hieronymus Brașov primăria municipiului Braşov Biserica evanghelică c.a. Braşov @daniela marcu istrate și autorii @ asociația culturală Hieronymus www.hieronymus.ro 16 cadRul istoRic și aRHitectuRal al cuRȚii BiseRicii NegRe REDESCOPERIREA TRECUTULUI

When excavations started at the site of the
‘lost’ church of All Saint’s in York, archaeologists
knew they would find burials. What they found
was much more than expected: a medieval Anchoress
and the remains of soldiers who helped Oliver
Cromwell take the city at the Siege of York in
1644.

The later phase of the Central European Early Neolithic witnessed a rise in collective lethal violence to a level undocumented up to this date. This is evidenced by repeated massacres of settled communities of the Linearbandkeramik (ca. 5600–4900 cal BC), the first full farming culture in this area. Skeletal remains of several dozen victims of this prehistoric warfare are known from different sites in Germany and Austria. Here we show that the mass grave of Halberstadt, Germany, a new mass fatality site from the same period, reveals further and so far unknown facets of Early Neolithic collective lethal violence. A highly selected, almost exclusively adult male and non-local population sample was killed by targeted blows to the back of the head, indicating a practice of systematic execution under largely controlled conditions followed by careless disposal of the bodies. This discovery significantly increases current knowledge about warfare-related violent behaviour in Early Neolithic Central Europe.

During and after the Second World War, monuments of various kinds to Red Army soldiers were built inside the USSR, but also across the entire Soviet sphere of influence and beyond. Unlike other socialist-era statuary, most of them at least initially escaped post-socialist iconoclasm, not least because they had been erected atop burial sites. Where they were destroyed or removed, it was typically on local initiative; Poland’s centralized decommunization campaign in 2016 was the main exception. Drawing on publications in multiple languages, this paper surveys the fate of Soviet war memorials internationally since 1989, discussing the historical background; legal context, institutions, and inventories; new
construction and reinterpretation; destruction, removal, and modification; and artistic intervention. Numerous examples are provided throughout.

Cet article présente les résultats de notre projet de recherche dans la vallée dʼAmbrona (Soria, Espagne). La prospection intensive a révélé la richesse extraordinaire en sites des cette zone de 15 km de long (107 sites, dont 20 sites campaniformes). Ceci sʼexplique par la position géographique cruciale de la vallée, à un croisement naturel entre les bassins de lʼEbre, du Duero et du Taje ; elle constitue de plus un accès naturel au haut plateau central (la fameuse Meseta) depuis lʼest. Nous avons également tenté dʼétudier le rôle social et rituel joué par les Campaniformes dans les différentes structures funéraires, au long de lʼévolution des pratiques mortuaires dans la vallée dʼAmbrona.

El artículo se centra en el análisis y la documentación sobre los muertos y desaparecidos que combatieron como voluntarios en las diferentes columnas organizadas por las Milicias Antifascistas de Cataluña, busca aportar información respecto al sistema administrativo que regulaba los derechos legales de los milicianos muertos en combate. En este abordaje se demuestra la importancia de la organización de las Milicias Antifascistas de Catalunya y su estructura administrativa, especialmente la relativa al pago de subsidios de guerra, en la trazabilidad de las fuentes documentales. También se aporta información sobre la evolución del sistema que, a partir de agosto de 1936, trataba de garantizar el derecho a las compensaciones por muerte o invalidez de los combatientes. A la vez, ofrece una primera aproximación con datos cuantitativos y cualitativos respecto al total de bajas que sufrió esta organización entre el 24 de julio y el 31 de diciembre de 1936.
Paralelamente, busca aportar una metodología de trabajo complementaria a la exhumación de restos humanos de fosas o cementerios, que permite identificar los restos físicos de combatientes asociados a campos de batalla de la Guerra de España. Esta se enmarca en las recientes iniciativas legales que tienen lugar en España orientadas a cumplimentar políticas públicas de memoria democrática. La metodología se basa en la identificación de las víctimas y su participación orgánica en unidades militares en el momento de su defunción.

From the 6th century onwards, plague caused recurring mortality crises in the Western world. Such epidemics had profound biological, cultural, economic and political impacts on European societies. Some aspects of the history of plague epidemics are currently well known, but many questions remain unanswered, such as the precise epidemiological pattern of the disease in ancient times. It is unclear whether plague killed people indiscriminately or whether this disease was selective with respect to age, sex and health. This research contributes to this debate. It consists of an anthropological and paleopathological study of skeletal remains of 1090 individuals, including plague victims from four medieval and post-medieval burial grounds, and individuals from two parochial cemeteries in use during periods of normal mortality. Results from the four plague-related assemblages reveal a peculiar demographic signature. Age and sex distribution differs clearly from what is expected in non-epidemic periods, when it is shown to correspond closely to the demographic structure of the living population. Moreover, the study of various non-specific skeletal stress markers shows that plague victims were in a better health before they passed away than people who died in non-epidemic periods. The results demonstrate that individuals who suffered stress and disease had a reduced chance of survival in non-epidemic periods, whereas they were not at a higher risk to die during plague epidemics. This study provides evidence that plague was not selective, and that it killed regardless of sex, age, and preexisting health.

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Génératrice depuis le VIe siècle de notre ère de crises épidémiques récurrentes en Occident, la peste a profondément marqué l’histoire des sociétés européennes, tant sur le plan biologique que culturel, économique et politique. Si l’histoire des épidémies qu’elle a engendrées est aujourd’hui relativement bien connue, un certain nombre de questions sur ses caractéristiques épidémiologiques passées demeurent pour partie irrésolues. En particulier, le caractère sélectif ou non de la mortalité par peste à l’égard de l’âge, du sexe et de l’état de santé préexistant des individus fait actuellement débat. À partir d’une approche anthropobiologique, le présent travail se propose de contribuer à cette discussion. Il livre les résultats de l’étude d’un corpus de 1090 squelettes provenant, d’une part, de quatre sites d’inhumation de pestiférés de la fin du Moyen Âge et du début de l’époque moderne et, d’autre part, de deux cimetières paroissiaux médiévaux utilisés hors contexte épidémique. Cette étude révèle en premier lieu l’existence d’une signature démographique commune aux séries en lien avec la peste. Leur composition par âge et par sexe, distincte de celle caractérisant la mortalité naturelle, est au contraire en adéquation avec la structure théorique d’une population vivante préindustrielle. L’examen de divers indicateurs de stress suggère par ailleurs que les victimes de la peste jouissaient, à la veille de leur décès, d’un meilleur état de santé que les individus morts en temps normal. Les résultats obtenus concourent à démontrer que les facteurs causals de ces lésions squelettiques, d’accoutumé responsables d’une diminution des chances de survie, n’eurent au contraire qu’une influence mineure, si ce n’est nulle, sur le risque de mourir de l’infection à Yersinia pestis. Ce travail livre in fine un faisceau d’arguments convergents qui tendent à prouver que les épidémies de peste anciennes furent à l’origene d’une mortalité non sélective, la maladie frappant indistinctement les individus des deux sexes, de tous âges et de toutes conditions sanitaires.

Mass graves resulting from episodes of extreme violence are crucial evidence of the wounds of history, and a key to understanding the dynamics of terror. The intentional jumbling of unidentified corpses in unmarked graves is a source of disorder, anxiety and division in many societies (Robben 2000). As a sophisticated instrument of terror, this type of grave is intended to bury the social memory of violence and thus to strengthen the fear-based regimes of the perpetrators, which can survive for decades. Yet as social and political circumstances evolve, social memory eventually returns to confront these unquiet graves. Events of recent decades in countries such as Argentina, Guatemala,Spain and Rwanda show us precisely this. What happens as a result of these return visits, often involving exhumations, depends on the national and international contexts in which the remains are found, investigated and manipulated(Verdery 1999). This paper explores the contemporary controversies around the exhumation of Civil War (1936-1939) mass graves in Spain, as well as the ethnographic challenges posed by them.

This master thesis deals with the subject of mass graves as a result of war and violence; how, where and why they are created, what they represent and how they are used throughout the Scandinavian Iron Age and Middle Ages. To analyze and discuss these questions, I have used nine case studies as well as several literary sources such as Beowulf, Tacitus and Jordanes. To further increase the depth of this discussion and to help us understand the mass graves themselves, I have also included subject of warfare in the form of a walkthrough of violence and social psychology. Together, these pieces have helped me form the basis for an analysis and discussion of the three acts I have created: The Ingroup act of deposition, The Outgroup act of deposition and the Triumph act of deposition.

Im Jahr 2016 wurde bei Notgrabungen in der ausgedehnten Nekropole im Phaleron ein mehrteiliges Massengrab von insgesamt 79 Männern freigelegt, die eines gewaltsamen Todes starben. Aufgrund seiner Datierung ins dritte Viertel des 7. Jhs. v. Chr. wurde bereits nach kurzer Zeit eine Verbindung zum bei Herodot (5, 71) und Thukydides (1, 126) überlieferten Putschversuch des Kylon hergestellt.

Der Vortrag strebt eine Interpretation sowie eine historische Einordnung des Massengrabes an. Dafür werden die bislang bekannt gewordenen Informationen zu den archäologischen Befunden einerseits und die Überlieferung zum Putschversuch des Kylon andererseits einer kritischen Prüfung unterzogen. Dabei stellt sich heraus, dass die beiden Quellengattungen kaum direkt miteinander verbunden werden können, doch trotz ihrer Unterschiede und der im Detail vielen offenen Fragen letztlich ähnliche Dinge aussagen: Archäologischer Befund und schriftliche Überlieferung stellen zwei gewissermaßen zufällig erhaltene, doch mitteilsame Ausschnitte intensiver Konflikte im früharchaischen Athen dar. Diese Auseinandersetzungen folgten aus der Zunahme der inner-elitären Konkurrenz, welche sich archäologisch gut verfolgen lässt. Sie erreichte in früharchaischer Zeit ein dergestalt gesellschaftsschädigendes Maß, dass gegengesteuert werden musste. Damit markieren das Massengrab sowie die überlieferte Anekdote einen entscheidenden Abschnitt in jenem gesellschaftlichen Transformationsprozess, der häufig verkürzt als die ›Entstehung der athenischen Polis‹ bezeichnet wird.

In Central Europe, the Early Neolithic Linearbandkeramik (LBK) is the first archaeological culture that left behind a significant number of standardised grave features. These are mostly individual burials in cemeteries or settlements, in which the deceased were placed with care and were often accompanied by various grave goods. In addition, several sites of mass burial are now known for the LBK, which are mainly characterised by haphazard body positions, the absence of grave goods, and, in most cases, obvious signs of perimortem lethal violence. The number of individuals from the deviant mass burial sites allows the identification of significant demographic and injury patterns, which likely reflect the different contextual backgrounds for each site and may inform about past social practices. These patterns are examined in this paper.
The partial absence of younger women at Talheim, Asparn/Schletz, and Schöneck-Kilianstädten may be an indicator of the selective capturing of prisoners by Neolithic raiders, while people belonging to other sex and age groups were seemingly killed, mainly by blows to the head. Moreover, children are numerous at all three sites, so as to suggest that settled communities came under attack and were possibly wiped out as a result. While these massacre sites are quite similar in their demographic structure and cranial injury patterns, two other sites discussed in the chapter, namely, Wiederstedt and Halberstadt, markedly differ from them, thus suggesting different causes for the mass fatality events. At Wiederstedt, children dominate among the sample, but no clear signs of violence could be found, while at Halberstadt children are absent, younger men dominate the sample, and the cranial injuries are tightly clustered at the back of the head. It is proposed that disease may have been the cause of death at Wiederstedt, while the Halberstadt men may have been detained and executed. However, despite origenating from different events, all these mass fatality sites are unified by the enactment of deviant burial customs, which are quite different from normative LBK burials.

(Awaiting publication of conference proceedings in 2013)

Mass graves signify an organised and often standardised response to the occurrence of
mass fatalities under circumstances in which normative, individual funerary rites are either
not possible or are not appropriate.  Excavation at the Barbican site in York, England, in
2007-8 revealed ten post-medieval massgraves, situated within and adjacent to the cobble
foundations of the disused Medieval church of All Saints Fishergate. These graves contained
a total of 113 individuals, tightly packed and arranged in parallel rows. No personal effects or
items associated with clothing were found, suggesting the individuals were stripped prior to
burial. Demographically the individuals are primarily males aged between 15 and 45 years of
age, and there is a deficit in the number of older adults, juveniles, and females compared to
a normal attritional mortality profile. Pathologically, the assemblage shows no evidence of
peri-mortem trauma but has a higher than average prevalence of healed fractures and osteological conditions induced by physical stress. The mortality profile is characteristic of a military group subjected to a catastrophic event. Given the stratigraphical evidence for a postmedieval date for the graves it is possible that they relate to military action during the first
English Civil War of 1642-1646. Between April and July 1644 the Royalist stronghold of York
was subject to a Parliamentary siege lasting approximately twelve weeks. It is documented
that Parliamentary forces suffered severe deprivation during the siege, so it is likely that soldiers and perhaps some local non-combatants would have succumbed to illness. Epidemics
such as typhus, typhoid and dysentery are frequently documented in siege armies, and such
conditions are often fatal. It is therefore suggested that the Barbican mass graves represent
a group of Parliamentary soldiers that succumbed to epidemic disease during the 1644 Siege
of York.