engleski

Fighting and dying at the edge of the empire: skeletal injuries caused by intentional violence from the 17th century CE mass burial in Osijek, eastern Croatia

During rescue excavations, conducted in 2014 and 2015 at a construction site located within the campus of the Josip Juraj Strossmayer University in Osijek, a roughly circular archaeological feature about 2m deep, containing large amounts of pottery and animal bones as well as numerous human remains, was discovered. Based on the recovered artefacts and radiocarbon dates the use of this feature (most probably a dried-up well) can be placed in the Early Modern Period. The well contained the remains of at least 28 individuals: 23 adult males, two adult individuals of undetermined sex and three subadults (an older child and two adolescents). Beside the pathological changes frequently found in archaeological contexts such as dento-alveolar lesions, Schmorl’s nodes, and cribra orbitalia this assemblage contained a large number of skeletal injuries associated with intentional violence in adult males. These included ante- mortem injuries such as nasal fractures, but also a whole range of perimortem trauma caused by sharp-bladed weapons, most probably sabers and/or knives. The morphology and distribution of peri-mortem injuries in this case suggest a combination of a face-toface combat (e.g. cuts on the anterior part of the cranium and on forearm bones) and execution (decapitation). Based on the available historic sources, the comprehensive archaeological context as well as the bioarchaeological characteristics of the studied sample we propose that the remains found in the Early Modern period well from Osijek belong to members of the Ottoman armed forces who were killed and unceremoniously disposed of during the unsuccessful Turkish siege of Osijek in 1690.

Osijek ; Ottoman period ; paleopathology ; perimortem trauma

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