The Battle of Aspern 1809 – Archaeological and bioarchaeological observations (original) (raw)

Abstract

The floodplain surrounding the town of Aspern, now a district of Vienna, was the site of one of the largest battles during the Napoleonic wars to take place on Austrian grounds. On May 21st/22nd 1809, Napoleon saw his first ever defeat on land which cost the life of an estimated 55 000 soldiers. Residential development works in the area of the battle site over the last decades have prompted large-scale archaeological surveys undertaken by the Stadtarchäologie Wien. In 2009 and 2010, three multiple burials of soldiers as well as two large bone pits holding human remains which were presumably disturbed during earlier construction works during WW II were recovered and the human remains made available for further anthropological analyses. The scope of this paper is twofold. It aims to provide an overview of all known interment sites excavated over the course of the 20th century and to discuss the archaeological evidence of treatment of the victims of the battle of Aspern. Furthermore it will present the results of the anthropological analysis of the human remains recovered from the multiple burials discussing aspects of battle-related violence but also general indicators of health of the soldiers during the time of the Napoleonic wars.

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