Analyses to help identify individuals from a historical mass grave in Kassel, Germany

Abstract

In 2008, the skeletal remains of more than 60 human individuals were found in a mass grave on the grounds of the University of Kassel, Germany. There was no evidence helping to identify them or throwing light on the cause of their death. Mainly due to 14C age determination and initial hints on age and sex distribution, historians hypothesized that they had been soldiers of Napoleon's army who died in an epidemic in the winter of 1813/14. To test this assumption, morphological and molecular analyses were carried out on a sample. The morphological analyses comprised an age and sex determination as well as a macro- and micro-morphological inspection for pathological deviations after the commingled bones had been assembled as individuals. The molecular investigations aimed to identify the geographic origin of the remains. For this, mitochondrial and Y-chromosomal haplotypings were carried out. The results point to a group of mainly young men, some of them suffering from systemic inflammation of the periosteum. Others revealed severe aberrations in bone microstructure. The greatest similarities revealed by Y-haplogroup and -haplotype distribution were to populations that live in what are now the Benelux countries. All aspects support the thesis that these were soldiers of the Napoleonic army.

Battlefield, Barracks, or Hospital? A Bioarchaeological Investigation of a Mass Grave at the Jičín Observatory, Czech Republic

“…We therefore suggest that this mass grave was most likely to have been related to encampments rather than combat; although we cannot exclude a connection with hospital contexts. In future research, biochemical analyses, including aDNA (Raoult et al, 2006; von Grumbkow et al, 2012), stable isotope analyses indicative of diet and mobility (Holder et al, 2017), and Energy-Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (Vymazalová et al, 2021; 4, 6-8) could provide further information to contextualize the Jičín grave, as well as military activity in the surrounding area, shedding light on the origins and experiences of the individuals buried there. This study demonstrates how multiple strands of enquiry are essential for contextualizing the complex scenarios that characterize conflict archaeology in the recent past.…”

“…Research on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century military mass burials provides an important framework for analysing the Jičín mass grave (Cooper, 2006; Binder, 2008; von Grumbkow et al, 2012; Dutour & Buzhilova, 2013; Quade & Binder, 2018). These burials (and other military mass graves) have typically been identified through a combination of features, including finds from the graves, grave location, body positioning, the demographic profile of those buried, and the presence and frequency of skeletal trauma (Knüsel, 2005).…”

Genetic research at a fivefold children's burial from medieval Berlin

“…DNA extraction was carried out after a protocol, which was developed by the research group of historical anthropology and human ecology at the Georg-August-University in Goettingen (https://www.uni-goettingen.de/de/136161.html) and partly published in Grumbkow et al [6]. In detail, each extraction was performed with 250 mg of bone powder, which were split into 2 ml Eppendorf tubes, each with 125 mg. Next, 1800 ml 0.5 M EDTA (Sigma-Aldrich, Steinheim, Germany) was added to each sample tube and incubated for 18 h at 37 8C.…”