Gallows Burials Unearthed in Slovakia

ZÁHORIE, SLOVAKIA—According to a report in The Slovak Spectator, the remains of 13 executed people have been uncovered at the Holíč gallows, a site in western Slovakia near the border with the Czech Republic. The structure is thought to have been used from the sixteenth century to the first half of the eighteenth century. “For now, we have confirmation from an anthropologist that these are mostly younger men,” archaeologist Daniel Bešina said of the skeletal remains. “The remains of women on the gallows have not yet been identified, which is not unusual, since women rarely ended up on the gallows,” he explained. Two metal buckles were found with the remains of two individuals. Remnants of textiles were found on one of the buckles. Severed cervical vertebrae on two sets of remains suggest that at least two of the executed individuals had been beheaded. The right hand of one of these men had been cut off either before or shortly after death—a punishment reserved for crimes such as perjury, or drawing a sword against a mayor. Another two sets of remains were positioned with their hands behind their backs, which suggests that they may have been hanged. Bešina and his colleagues also uncovered two stone and masonry columns connected with a wall from the gallows structure. Similar structures have been found in Austria and Switzerland, Bešina concluded. To read about an unusual mass grave uncovered at Slovakia's Neolithic site of Vráble, go to "Neolithic Mass Grave Mystery."