WATERLOO, BELGIUM—The Independent reports that a trench containing human and animal remains has been excavated at the site of a British field hospital at Mont-Saint-Jean farm in Belgium by members of Waterloo Uncovered, an organization that offers veterans an opportunity to participate in archaeology and receive wellbeing support. The Battle of Waterloo was fought on June 18, 1815, and resulted in the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte and the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The human and animal remains in the recently discovered trench were separated by a barrier made of soldiers’ ammunition boxes. “The layout of the trench, with all animal remains on one side of the ammunition-box-barrier and all the human remains on the other, strongly suggests that the men who buried this individual attempted to offer him a level of dignity and respect despite the horrific scene they would have found themselves facing while clearing the field hospital of the dead,” said archaeologist Tony Pollard of the University of Glasgow. The other side of the trench held the bones of an ox and at least seven horses. At least three of the horses had been euthanized with a musket ball to the head, Pollard said, and several of them may have been butchered, he concluded. For more on the battle and the discovery of one solider's remains, go to "A Soldier's Story."
