Two Vast Graves

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 608, 9 March 1929, Page 18

Two Vast Graves

1,800 WARRIORS FOUND

HHE following account of two of the largest mass graves containing Danish and Swedish mediaeval warriors which were recently dug up on a Swedish island appears in a recent issue of the Swedish-American Trade Journal: “Two mass graves containing the remains of some 1,800 men fallen in battle and unique finds of armour, weapons and implements of mediaeval warfare have been excavated outside the city wall of Visby in the Swedish island of Gotland in the Baltic. The date of the battle has been fixed with certainty to July 27, 1361. This grim find is said to be unparalleled in the archaeological annals, both as regards size and historical value, as the graves were untouched and left in their original state. “In 1361 King Valdemar Atterdag

of Denmark, at ,the head of an army of well-armed soldiers, invaded Gotland with the aim of conquering Visby, the capital of the island, then a fabulously wealthy Hanseatic stronghold. The patriotic Gotlanders, however, gathered and valiantly defended the city. The battle was fought ruthlessly, and the well-equipped mercenaries of King Valdemar at last beat the defenders, primitively armed with axes, poles and swords, but without armour. The city of Visby then decided to open its gates to the Danish King, who showed small mercy on the inhabitants and made them pay heavy contributions.

“An examination of the bones, belonging to the 1,800 men in the two graves, revealed the merciless character of the battle. Some of the bones had been cut clean through as if by a razor, many of the skulls showed traces of four hr even more

blows, and were also marked by arrow' wounds, and in some skulls the arrows still remained. It is a noteworthy fact that most of the wounds had been inflicted on the head and the legs, indicating that the middle part of the body was relatively well protected. “All kinds of mediaeval armour, even such as are known only by descriptions in mediaeval texts, were found in great numbers. “The excavations were carried out by one Swedish and one Danish archaeologist, thus uniting over past feuds. The difficulty of their task may be gathered from the fact that they had to remove the earth with brushes to avoid damage to the remains. “Not less than sixty boxes with bones have been brought to Stockholm to be examined and classified by experts. A monument will be erected at the expense of the Danish and Swedish Governments to honour the mediaeval warriors buried in the largest mass graves known from the Middle Ages.”