Military veterans will join an archaeological excavation in Belgium next month as they search for answers to one of history’s enduring mysteries: what happened to the remains of the roughly 20,000 men who died at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815?

Veteran support charity Waterloo Uncovered will be carrying out a targeted excavation at Mont-Saint-Jean farm in Belgium, which served as Wellington’s field hospital during the battle. In 2022, the charity made its most important discovery to date at the farm: a human skeleton, only the second complete human skeleton ever excavated on the Waterloo battlefield. Also discovered at the site were the amputated limbs of wounded men and the skeletons of three horses, leading archaeologists to suspect that they have only scratched the surface of what is likely to be a much larger feature.

From September 3rd - 13th, an international team of military veterans, serving personnel, archaeologists and volunteers will continue work at Mont-Saint-Jean to uncover the full extent of the burial pit, and in doing so will get closer to solving the mystery of what happened to the missing bodies of the Waterloo dead.

Historical evidence points towards a grisly end for many of the skeletons from the battle, with contemporary news articles suggesting that they were dug up and ground down to be used as fertiliser and in the production of sugar, making the discovery of skeletons on the battlefield a highly unusual and historically significant occurrence.

Professor Tony Pollard of the University of Glasgow, who serves as the project’s Archaeological Director, said: “It’s an incredibly exciting site - the presence of amputated limbs, a complete human burial and the remains of euthanised horses in one trench make the site at Mont-Saint-Jean truly unique. Finding horses, which had been put out of their misery by shots to the head, and humans buried alongside each other, especially with the care and separation evident in this trench, is extremely rare.”

Previous excavations by the charity across the Waterloo battlefield site, all of which have utilised the unique lived experience of veterans and serving personnel to help interpret their discoveries, have uncovered evidence that has rewritten the story of Waterloo; from an unrecorded attack on the field hospital to physical evidence of how the French nearly tipped the battle in their favour in the gardens of Hougoumont.

“Waterloo Uncovered supports veterans with their recovery and transition into civilian life. On site, veterans and serving beneficiaries will learn key transferable archaeological skills, which will provide pathways into education, employment, or simply enable them to enjoy archaeology as a hobby. Even professional archaeologists rarely get to work on a site of this calibre - it’s really a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said Waterloo Uncovered’s CEO Abigail Boyle.

Anglo-Belgian landowner Anthony Martin, who runs a brewery, brasserie, and museum at Mont-Saint-Jean farm, said, "Since we rescued the abandoned site of the Allied Field hospital in 2014, we have placed the farm’s fascinating heritage at the heart of everything we do. We are delighted to welcome Waterloo Uncovered back to Mont-Saint-Jean so that they can uncover even more of the site’s history while supporting modern-day veterans." 

Waterloo Uncovered

Waterloo Uncovered is the groundbreaking charity combining archaeology on the Waterloo battlefield with veteran care and recovery. Since 2015, the project has been supporting veterans and serving personnel who have been injured or are suffering from mental or physical health issues as a result of their service with a programme of archaeological education and welfare support. Working in partnership with some of the UK and Europe’s top universities, and through the unique perspective of a team comprised of archaeologists, veterans, and serving soldiers, Waterloo Uncovered aims to understand war and its impact on people - and to educate the public about it. Visit www.waterloouncovered.com to learn more.

 

First published: 21 August 2024

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