What does a road section have to do with war from the 18th and 19th centuries? For the northeastern part of the Czech Republic, it meant examining military mass graves which maintained a silent testimony to battles from the 18th and 19th centuries within the establishment of the D11 expressway from Jaroměř to Trutnov.
The discovery, announced via Archaeological Center Olomouc (ACO), is situated on a 2.3-million-year site where extensive surveys on metallic detection started identifying ammunition. However, below the surface of the earth were two war events, including The Battle of Žďár in 1745 that occurred during The Second War of Silesia, in addition to Battle of Nový Rokytník in 1866 that happened during The Austro-Prussian War. Twelve skeletons, an 18th-century graveyard site, along with dozens of skeletons from three different 19th-century sites, an Austrian graveyard with 23 skeletons, plus two Prussian graves with 10 in each, were identified.
The battlefield archaeology was an important aspect of the discovery and analysis of the graves. The strategies that included the use of metal detectors were utilized in the search of the locations that evidenced the existence of metal archaeological material ranging from the ammunition to the metal buttons. The strategies together with the forensic anthropology enabled the deduction of the causes of death, as the explanation from the ACO indicated, that is, “several people died from gunshot wounds to the head.”
However, the artifacts had much more to relate about the history associated with them. There was the funeral where the textile used in military clothing, military equipment produced from leather, and other personal belongings exhumed that were well-preserved and included silver pocket watches with illustrations of dogs, gold francs with the date 1854, religious symbols of saints, and even coffee grinders.
According to archaeologist Dvořáková, the artifacts exhumed symbolized the “individuality” associated with the lives of the military personnel who had earlier on, as a result of conflict, had files that had made them anonymous.
Archeological findings of such sensitivity need highly developed conservation science. Textiles, for example, need storage conditions not warm and not humid enough to rule out mold, insect infestations, and deterioration of fabric. Folds need support using tissue papers that are classed as non-acidic, avoiding lighting. Archaeological findings made from metallic substances such as brass military buttons and steel weapons need conservation techniques that shield against corrosion. The metal should be kept away from contact with any organic materials, with a relative humidity of 45-50%.
The level of preservation seen at the site may also be explained by the conditions surrounding the burial positions of the dead because the soil was very non-oxidizing with favorable chemistry, thereby facilitating the extension of the normal debris life span beyond the battlefield conditions with regard to those particular items that would have been most likely degraded quickly such as cloth, skin, and metal. Other examples would include the battles of Bosworth Field and Hastings on the continent.
Additional clarification came to us through the use of forensic anthropologists. Analysis of skeletal damage was conducted to attempt to differentiate between wounds characteristic of those from a battlefield versus those received after death. With regards to other studies of mass burials from the early modern era, incised traumas to the skull and spinal cord suggestive of cavalry fighting practices can be distinguished from ballistic traumas suggesting firearms use. Žďár burials correspond to the fighting practices of the Austrian and Prussian troops, combining close-range shooting with cavalry follow-up attacks, and ammunition in particular.
Even in terms of historical significance, the graves stand out not only because of the cases being uncommon, as the ACO regards the burial site of the 18th century as “a European rarity” and the first of its kind to be excavated in Central Europe, but because of the ability of the military graves to provide historical information on previous wars in the past. The burial site of the Second Silesian War is another significant historical monument left by the War of the Austrian Succession, in which historical importance can be overshadowed by other European wars.
After the completion of the analysis procedure detailed above, the objects will be transferred to the Museum of Eastern Bohemia in Hradec Králové, while the bodies of the soldier will be interred in compliance with the Czech Republic’s laws. This procedure enables one to ensure that after interring the bodies of the soldier in their final resting place in compliance with the Czech Republic’s laws, this information is again available to historians in their quest to recreate the historical background of these anonymous soldier/historians.
