Problematika vícečetných pohřbů v novověku. Případová studie pohřebiště z 18. století v Semonicích u Jaroměře / Multiple Burials in the Early Modern Period. The case study of an 18th-century burial ground in Jaroměř–Semonice

Abstract

The study addresses the issue of multiple burials in the Early Modern period based on the example of the excavation of the burial ground near Jaroměř–Semonice (east Bohemia, Czech Republic). The rescue excavation of the site was conducted in 2017–2019. A group of 33 grave pits were set in an atypical position outside the regular cemetery, though in the vicinity of the niche chapel. A total of 66 individuals were buried here, with some some of them deposited in multiple graves. Based on an anthropological evaluation of the remains, the demographic structure does not correspond to the general population, as men and young individuals from the juvenis and adultus I age groups, the health condition of which was good, predominate among the deceased. Trauma associated with a violent death was not recorded. According to the indirect evidence of historical sources, we interpret the site as a probable epidemic burial ground where dead members of one of the military camps occurring nearby in the years 1745, 1758 and1778 were buried.