ODESSA, UKRAINE—The AFP reports that mass graves that may hold the remains of thousands of people have been found at the site of a garbage dump in southern Ukraine ahead of work to expand Odessa airport. The dead are thought to be victims of Stalin’s Great Terror of the 1930s. “They dug out pits in the garbage and threw these people in or shot them dead as they were standing there,” said archaeologist Tetyana Samoylova. The bodies were then covered with garbage, she explained. More than 400 truckloads of garbage were removed to reach the 29 graves that have been found so far. “The bodies lie in several layers,” added researcher Oleksandr Babych. “Already we can see at least five layers.” A memorial is being planned for the site, according to Odessa mayor Gennady Trukhanov. For more on Ukrainian archaeology, go to “Hail to the Bождь (Chieftain).”
Stalin-Era Mass Graves Discovered in Ukraine
News August 31, 2021
Recommended Articles
Features January 1, 2011
The Fight for Ancient Sicily
Rewriting one of the ancient world's most dramatic battlefield accounts
Features November/December 2024
Let the Games Begin
How gladiators in ancient Anatolia lived to entertain the masses
-
Features July/August 2021
Autobiography of a Maya Ambassador
A grand monument and a humble burial chronicle the changing fortunes of a career diplomat
(Justin Kerr, K-5763, Justin Kerr Maya Vase Archive, Dumbarton Oaks, Trustees for Harvard University, Washington, D.C.) -
Letter from Alaska July/August 2021
The Cold Winds of War
A little-known World War II campaign in the Aleutian Islands left behind an undisturbed battlefield strewn with weapons and materiel
(Brendan Coyle) -
Artifacts July/August 2021
Egyptian Copper Tools
(Courtesy Martin Odler and Jiří Kmošek, Czech Institute of Egyptology, Faculty of Arts, Charles University) -
Digs & Discoveries July/August 2021
A Challenging World
(Courtesy Yoli Schwartz/Israel Antiquities Authority)