The bloody Battle of Waterloo is say to have lay claim the animation of thousands of people , but sinceNapoleon ’s defeatlittle has ever been observe in the way ofhuman remains at the website . Where did they go ? It ’s quite possible they were ground up for fertiliser .
“ European battlefields may have provided a convenient source of bone that could be ground down into osseous tissue - meal , an effective chassis of fertilizer , ” said Professor Pollard from the University of Glasgow Centre for War Studies and Conflict Archaeology in astatement .
“ At least three newspaper articles from the 1820s onwards cite the importation of human bones from European battleground for the purpose of bring out fertilizer . ”
concord to Pollard , espouse the battle on June 18 , 1815 , Waterloo became something of a tourist snare as some came to gawp at the scenes of devastation while others catch interfering stripping the dead of anything of note value . Human teeth were often taken and made into dentures , but the other bone had adifferent market time value .
The authors of a fresh theme published in theJournal of Conflict Archaeologysay that on the foundation of the picture paint by late archeological probe , it seems big graves may have present a lucrative chance for the recovery of human bone which probably serve as an significant source of phosphate fertilizer .
Historic documents including letter , guide , and travelogs detail the precise locations of at least three mass graves say to bear around 13,000 corps , but Pollard believes tracking them down will knuckle under small in the direction of human clay . Those same documents , he says , may have acted like hoarded wealth mapping for bone grinders who shipped their product to the British Isles .
“ It ’s potential that an factor of a purveyor of bones would make it at the battlefield with high anticipation of guarantee their prize , ” said Pollard . “ Primary targets would be mass graves , as they would have enough bodies in them to merit the effort of digging the finger cymbals . ”
“ Local people would have been able to point these agents to the emplacement of the multitude grave , as many of them would have vivid memories of the inhumation taking piazza , or may even have avail with the dig . ”
The determination come precisely 207 yr after the Battle of Waterloo ’s end , but the mystery is n’t settled for sure just yet . Pollard hopes to lead an “ challenging ” geophysical survey over the coming geezerhood which will utilize the assistance of veterans to strain and track down the serious sites and see what they find .
“ The next stagecoach is to lead back out to Waterloo , to attempt to plot grave sites result from the depth psychology of former visitant accounts reported here , ” he said .
“ If human cadaver have been removed on the scale leaf proposed then there should be , at least in some case , archaeological evidence of the perdition from which they were rent , however truncated and poorly defined these might be .
“ cover big areas of the field of battle over the coming age , we will count to key areas of old ground psychological disorder to test the results of the source review and distribution function , and in conjunction with further documentary research and some excavation will ply a much more classic scene of the destiny of the dead of Waterloo . ”
