Archeologist found remains of humans and horses in the dig
On the Waterloo battlefield, a group of prominent archaeologists, students, and veterans came upon a rare, full soldier skeleton from the war 200 years ago. Napoleon’s aspirations of an empire were permanently crushed when an epic battle near Brussels, Belgium, in June 1815 saw as many as 20,000 men die on a single day. And yet, the fate of their remnants has remained unclear for two centuries. The charity has been excavating at Waterloo since 2015, it has significantly improved our knowledge of this devastating fight involving men from many European countries.
The Waterloo Uncovered crew focused on regions where some of the hardest fighting of the battle occurred, as they visited two important sites, Mont-Saint-Jean Farm and Plancenoit. In 2019, the team discovered several horses’ bones and a number of musket bullets.
The remnants of three amputated limbs were among the discoveries made during the dig at Mont-Saint-Jean farm, which served as the Duke of Wellington’s primary field hospital throughout the war. Although thousands of people perished in the battle, few remains have been discovered. Many bones were gathered, crushed up, and used as farm fertilizer, according to tales from the time.
Waterloo Uncovered has discovered important new evidence of the pain and perseverance involved when returning to excavate on the battlefield since the pandemic. The team is cautiously digging a soldier’s undamaged skeleton at the site of the Allied field hospital at the farm of Mont-Saint-Jean while avoiding ammunition boxes, medical trash, and the bones of legs and arms that surgeons had amputated while trying to rescue the injured.
Speaking about the latest finds, Professor Tony Pollard, director of the Centre for Battlefield Archaeology at Glasgow University and member of the Waterloo Uncovered team, said: “I’ve been a battlefield archaeologist for 20 years and have never seen anything like it. We won’t get any closer to the harsh reality of Waterloo than this.”
The First French Empire came to an end on June 18, 1815, when the Duke of Wellington defeated Napoleon’s army at Waterloo. 50,000 troops were captured, wounded, or killed during the eight long hours of sword attacks, gunfire, and cannon fire exchanged between the armies.
