Bioarchaeological investigation of WWI burials at Nowa Osuchowa, Poland

ABSTRACT

During construction works in eastern Poland, the remains of 25 individuals were discovered. The site near Nowa Osuchowa was excavated in 2016 and after osteological and taphonomical analyses the remains were reburied. The remains were identified as members of the Prussian Army fighting in WWI. Radiographic imaging was employed to aide differential diagnosis of pathologies. Skeletal evidence of antemortem fractures, dislocation and infection was found. Several individuals showed evidence of perimortem fractures and high-velocity projectile trauma. Taphonomic analyses indicate that some of the individuals were buried at the location very soon after death, while others were likely already in more advanced stages of decomposition at the time of burial at the site.

KEYWORDS:

• Eastern front
• human remains
• mass grave
• trauma analysis
• bioarchaeology
• World War I

Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge excavation director Marek Milewski for allowing us to analyse these remains. Further, we would like to thank our colleagues at the University of Warsaw, Institute of Archaeology, in particular Isabelle Coupal, for their support. We are grateful to Tymoteusz Kosinski and the National Centre for Nuclear Research for their invaluable assistance with the radiographic imaging of the remains. Lastly, we would like to thank Michał Dąbski, K. Watola, and P. Kobek for providing professional photographs of human remains and artefacts, Zbigniew Misiuk, and Tomasz Gogolewski for the preparation of cartographic material.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Anne Malcherek

Anne Malcherek is an anthropologist and bioarchaeologist, whose research interests include conflict archaeology, osteological trauma analysis, and palaeopathology. Anne is a graduate of Archaeology (MA) at the University of Warsaw, Poland, and holds a B.Sc. in Forensic Anthropology from the University of Dundee, Scotland.

Wiesław Więckowski

Wiesław Więckowski is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Archaeology, University of Warsaw. Specializes in bioarchaeology. His work concerns a wide selection of topics, from the applications of bioarchaeology in archaeological interpretations, through the archaeology of modern (or sub-modern) sites – war cemeteries, Jewish cemeteries, through archaeology and bioarchaeology of the Andes and Israel.