An unsettling mass grave, containing bodies brutalized by Mongol invaders, has been discovered in Russia.
One of the burial pits at the site, dating back 780 years, holds the remains of 15 victims, including a grandmother, mother, and grandson from the same family.
An eerie mass grave has been uncovered in Russia. Credit: Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.
The grave was found in the city of Yaroslavl and dates back to the Mongol invasion of Europe. Credit: Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.
Entire families were massacred by Mongol invaders in the 13th century. Credit: Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.
Experts have linked the site in the Russian city of Yaroslavl to the brutal 13th-century Mongol invasion of Europe.
Yaroslavl fell victim to a Mongol army invasion in 1238, led by Batu Khan – the grandson of the ruthless warlord Genghis Khan.
New DNA testing has confirmed that the Mongols slaughtered entire families during their bloodthirsty campaign across central and eastern Europe.
“In addition to recreating the overall picture of the fall of the city in 1283, we now see the tragedy of one family,” said Asya Engovatova from the Institute of Archaeology, RAS.
The corpses exhibited clear signs of piercing and cutting. Credit: Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.
Researchers assert that the bones provide evidence that the city was ‘drowned in blood.’ Credit: Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.
The grave was uncovered near a burned-down homestead beneath a demolished cathedral. Credit: Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.
“DNA analysis has shown that there were remains of genetically related individuals representing three generations.
Anthropological data suggests these were a grandmother aged 55 or older, her daughter aged 30 to 40, and a grandson, a young man of about 20.
A fourth member of the family related through the female line was buried in the neighboring mass grave.
Yaroslavl was devastated during Batu Khan’s army as he battled against the Grand Duchy of Vladimir in the early 13th century.
But the scale of the destruction only became clear in recent history.
In 2005, during excavations on the site of the city’s Assumption Cathedral – built in the 13th century but demolished in 1937 – mass graves were found.
As many as nine burial pits were unearthed containing remains of more than 300 buried individuals who “died a violent death”.
“Batu Khan’s conquest was the greatest national tragedy, surpassing any other event in cruelty and destruction,” said Asya.
“It is not by chance that it is among the few such events that made its way into Russian folklore.
“What we now know about those raids suggests that chronicle descriptions of ‘a city drowned in blood’ were not merely a figure of speech.”
Bodies were already decomposing before they were disposed of. Credit: Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.
Researchers used DNA testing to uncover that a mass grave at the site contained the remains of a grandmother, mother, and grandson from the same family. Credit: Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.
This illustration depicts Russian Prince Alexander Nevsky pleading with Mongol invader Batu Khan for mercy.
