Researchers from Szeged are Also Taking Part in the Study of the Mass Graves of the Battle of Mohács

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The study, in which several research groups of the University of Szeged (SZTE) can participate, can also contribute to the determination of the exact location of the battle of Mohács, the identification of the soldiers fighting the Turks and the presentation of their fate.

 

The excavations of No. 3. mass grave in the Mohács National Historical Site began in the summer with the help of experts from Janus Pannonius Museum, and in September anthropologists of the Department of Anthropology of the University of Szeged also took part in the work.

The currently known five mass graves in Mohács report No. 3. as the smallest, about 15 square meters. Identifying bone remains found in the grave is a huge professional challenge for anthropologists.

During a 1976 study of the mass grave, experts estimated that about 130 people could be buried here. However, based on the field work completed on December 2nd, experts suggest that there may be significantly more skeletons in the tomb, around three hundred. According to the data collected, 90 percent of the deceased were young or relatively young adult men aged between 18 and 40, some of them were boys aged between 14 and 16, but they buried one or two older men, and presumably some women in the mass grave, too.

According to the archeologists, it is clear that a barbaric massacre took place in Mohács: it is a mass grave of beheaded people. Plenty of the cases have been identified where it is clear from the traces that the kneeling men were killed from behind, by beheading. Written data were also found in the archives of Suleiman I stating that more than two thousand prisoners of war had been executed after the battle of Mohács.

Investigations can also help determine the exact location of the battle.Anthropological examination of the mass grave may continue in the spring.

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