A Mass Grave from the Roman Period in Moravia (Czech Republic) - Dockalova - 2005

The presence of the Roman army in Moravia has been assessed since 1927 with finds of Roman constructions (Gnirs 1931). During aerial photographing in the environs of Hradisko (Burgstall) near Mušov, fortification moats of the Roman army were discovered for the first time (Bálek 1993a). In 1993-1994 the communication road Brno - Vienna (line Neuriessen) was constructed in the area of the former village of Mušov (nowadays a pond). Before the construction of the road, during rescue archaeological research, a ground plan of a Roman construction (Figure 2b) and several fortification moats (Neuriessen I-VIII) were discovered at the Hradisko hummock. In the fortification moat Mušov - Neuriessen IV (length 15 m, width 7.4 m, depth 3.9 m), there were buried, but mostly simply discarded complete or incomplete skeletons of 34 individuals: 6 men, 20 women, 6 children and 2 adult individuals. Traces of violence, mortal lesions caused by skull perforations in the area of parietal and occipital bones, slash and stub lesions were found on the skulls of 17 individuals; there was also a case of decapitation. Complete skeletons of three horses, two cows, two bulls had also been discarded in the moat, as well as parts of skeletons of a mule, donkey, sheep, goat, and fragments of small domestic animals' bones. The common mass grave of human and animal remains in the Roman period fortification moat can be interpreted as a one-off violent occurrence.

Keywords

Roman period - Czech Republic - Moravia - Hradisko near Mušov - Mass grave - Traces of violence - Mortal lesions - Human and animal victim

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