Archaeologists Unearth 17th Century Horse Burial Site
Archaeologists have unearthed a grave containing the complete skeletons of 51 horses buried together, possibly the equine victims of a 17th century battle that took place over a strategic Dutch river.
The mass grave is the largest known equine burial site in Europe, although archaeologist Angela Simons said Wednesday that more sites may have existed and have probably been plowed up over the centuries by farmers not knowing what lay beneath.
The team of archaeologists were looking for evidence of prehistoric human settlements in the area when they came across the site unexpectedly.
“From the first shovel, it was horses, horses and more horses,” said Angela Simons, of the Hazenberg Archaeology, which was employed by the Dutch government to survey the ground ahead of a construction project.
The horses showed signs of a quick burial. The bodies were not carefully arranged and the skeletons overlapped each other. “It’s easy to imagine this is how cavalry men might dispose of dead mounts in war time,” Simons told The Associated Press.
Although the mass burial may have occurred after an important 17th century battle, disease or a plague could not be ruled out for the deaths. It is not known if the horses were buried out of respect, or because of the fear of contamination from so many decomposing corpses.
The site is located in a field near the Maas River in Borgharen, about 2 miles north of the Dutch border city of Maastricht.
Preliminary carbon testing dated the bones to the 1600s, when the Netherlands was still struggling to emerge as a nation.
If the horses died during battle, the most likely candidates include a battle in 1632 during the Eight Years’ War, when Dutch rebels quartered in Borgharen repelled a surprise charge by the Spanish cavalry. They may have also been killed during the 1673 siege of Maastricht by soldiers of French "Sun King" Louis XIV.
The grave showed no signs of bridles or saddles, suggesting they were removed. The archaeologists did find one stirrup and several horseshoes. One horse had a bullet in its skull just behind the eye-socket, which suggests an injured horse may have been shot to prevent further suffering, Simons said.
The horses appeared to be around 4 years old, and their size and bone structure suggests they were for riding — possibly cavalry horses — not draft horses.
It is possible that the horses had some connection with several French soldiers whose skeletons were found on a riverbank in Borgharen in 2004, according to Simons. The human skeletons were identified as French from their coat buttons.
Image Courtesy Consortium Grensmaas
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