Archaeologists Explored the Site of Napoleon’s Final Battle—and Found a Shocking Pit of Bones

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Archaeologists Explored the Site of Napoleon’s Final Battle—and Found a Shocking Pit of Bones

Tens of thousands of soldiers ***** or suffered grievous wounds at 1815’s Battle of Waterloo, but despite that, few ******** have been found at the site of the battlefield.

A recently discovered skeleton by a volunteer group of experts prompted a further search, which resulted in the discovery of a massive pit full of evidence of the battle.

******* in the “gore pit” were tons of ********—some were those of ***** animals that were ******* in the battle and some were human limbs that were amputated during the ****** and had piled up across the battlefield.

By the time the Battle of Waterloo drew to a close on June 18, 1815,

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were *******, wounded, or captured on

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’s side, with 22,000 casualties on the opposing side. And yet, to date, only two full skeletons have ever been uncovered at the battleground which has fascinated historians for centuries.

Waterloo Uncovered, “a *** charity that combines archaeology with veteran care,” found the most recent of those,

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, at Mont-Saint-Jean farm in

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believed to have been the site of the Duke of Wellington’s field hospital.

Bolstered by this discovery, the group returned to the site earlier in September to see what else they could uncover in the area surrounding where they found the skeleton. But while a

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certainly qualifies as macabre on its own, what they ended up finding upon further digging was something far more grisly.

They described what they found as a “unique battle clearance trench.” But it’s also known by another, more descriptive name: a gore pit.

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Volunteers from ’Waterloo Uncovered’ examine ******** discovered within a gore pit found at the site of the famed battleThierry Monasse – Getty Images

The pit appears to have been dug purposefully to collect the ******** of battlefield surgeries and ***** animals that would have otherwise overwhelmed the field hospital. Per a

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put out by the University of Glasgow, the contents of the pit were “

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separated by a barrier of ammunition boxes stripped from soldier’s leather satchels.”

Of the animal ********, there was an ox and “at least seven horses.” Most of the animals showed signs of being slaughtered, but three appeared to have been “euthanised via a musket ball to the head.” On the other side of the pit, nearer where the complete skeleton had been discovered in 2022, they found what was described as a “pile” of human limbs. The limbs had been amputated, it was determined, as many “still contain evidence of removal by the surgeon’s saw.” This, according to the press release, aligns with eyewitness reports from the battle, which described amputated limbs as “piling up in all four corners of the courtyard.”

“I can’t think of any other site that has this combination of elements,” notes Waterloo Uncovered’s Archaeological Director Tony Pollard. “It’s truly unique, within Napoleonic archaeology and beyond. The layout of the trench, with all animal ******** on one side of the ammunition box barrier and all the human ******** on the other, strongly suggests that the men who ******* this individual attempted to offer him a level of dignity and respect despite the horrific scene they would have found themselves facing while clearing the field hospital of the *****.”

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