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In 2011, excavations at the site of the Roman-period city of Mursa (modern-day Osijek) in Croatia came across an ancient water well containing the complete skeletons of seven individuals. The results of analysis recently published in the journal PLOS One (https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0333440) indicate that they were probably Roman soldiers killed in conflict.
All seven were adult males aged between 18 and 50, with an average height of 172.5cm, and ancient DNA reveals that they came from a variety of different genetic backgrounds, but that none was related to the local Early Iron Age population of Mursa. Meanwhile, isotope analysis indicates that they shared a very uniform diet in the period before their death, mostly consisting of vegetables and grains, with limited meat and very little fish. All of these details are in keeping with members of the Roman army.
Similarly, the men’s skeletons show signs of long-term physical activity consistent with soldier training, as well as healed wounds from earlier conflicts. Finally, and perhaps most significantly, several of them suffered violent injuries around the time of death, including a punctured sternum probably caused by a spear or arrow, a sword cut to the arm, and puncture wounds to the ribs and hip. These were inflicted from various directions, as would be expected for wounds sustained in battle.
The brutal deaths suffered by these individuals, combined with the haphazard way they were deposited in a mass grave, leads researchers to believe that these were Roman soldiers slain in conflict. Radiocarbon dating of the remains places them in the later part of the 3rd century AD, and this is supported by the discovery of a Roman sestertius minted in AD 251. It is therefore thought that these men were victims of one of the numerous catastrophic events that occurred during the unstable period known as the ‘Crisis of the Third Century’, most likely the Battle of Mursa, which took place in AD 260.
Image: Novak et al., PLOS One
