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Soldiers fallen in the Battle of Austerlitz

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Abstract

During the reconstruction of the cellars of a house in Staňkova Street in Brno (Czech Republic), the human skeletal remains of 12 individuals stored in a common grave pit were discovered. By its arrangement, this grave corresponded to mass burials during war conflicts, epidemics or famines. Using the radiocarbon method, the skeletons were dated to the early nineteenth century, when the Napoleonic Wars took place in Central Europe. A detailed analysis of the osteological collection revealed that young men aged from 20 to 30 years, with an average body height of 167.6 cm, were buried in the grave. On one of the skeletons, a comminuted fracture of the humerus was recorded, probably caused by a gunshot wound; on another, there were visible traces of a surgical procedure — amputation. From the results of the examination, it is possible to assume that these were soldiers who had died in a temporary field hospital. The hypothesis was confirmed by the analysis of dental calculus, in which traces of sulphur and nitrogen were found, which are components of gunpowder. Degenerative changes in the spine and bones of the lower limbs also indicate a huge physical strain when carrying heavy weapons during long marches in heavy military footwear. Genetic determination of the mitochondrial DNA haplogroups revealed three different haplogroups that occur with different frequencies in different parts of Europe. So it is probable that victims of the Battle of the Three Emperors, which took place in nearby Austerlitz (Slavkov u Brna) on 2 December 1805, were buried in the mass grave under study.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Jana Vachová and Ondřej Bílek for their skilful technical assistance and Jakub Samek for his valuable advice.

Funding

Part of the outputs was created with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture within the institutional funding for the long-term conceptual development of the Moravian Museum (DKRVO, MK000094862) research organisation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Group of Medical Anthropology and Clinical Anatomy, Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, Kamenice 3, 625 00, Brno, Czech Republic

    Kateřina Vymazalová & Lenka Vargová

  2. Division of Medical Sciences in Sports, Department of Kinesiology, Faculty of Sports Studies, Kamenice 5, 625 00, Brno, Czech Republic

    Ladislava Horáčková

  3. Archaeological Heritage Institute Brno, Kaloudova 123/30, 614 00, Brno, Czech Republic

    Jiří Kala & Michal Přichystal

  4. Laboratory of Biological and Molecular Anthropology, Department of Experimental Biology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kamenice 5, 625 00, Brno, Czech Republic

    Kristýna Brzobohatá, Dana Fialová & Eva Drozdová

  5. Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Scientific Instruments, Královopolská 147, 612 64, Brno, Czech Republic

    Radim Skoupý

  6. Centre for Cultural Anthropology, Moravian Museum, Zelný trh 6, 659 37, Brno, Czech Republic

    Eva Vaníčková

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  1. Kateřina Vymazalová
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  2. Lenka Vargová
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  3. Ladislava Horáčková
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Correspondence to Kateřina Vymazalová.

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Vymazalová, K., Vargová, L., Horáčková, L. et al. Soldiers fallen in the Battle of Austerlitz. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 13, 204 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-021-01445-7

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