Archaeologists from the State Office for Monument Preservation and Archaeology of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, are currently excavating a gallows site on Galgenberg, or “Gallows Hill”, which was used for public executions by the courts in Quedlinburg from 1662 to 1809. It is located in today’s Lehofswg.
Gallows – a wooden structure of two vertical posts and a horizontal crossbeam – have been used for executing criminals by hanging, a prevalent form of capital punishment in Europe from the Middle Ages.
Death by hanging was suspended in the UK in 1965 and abolished in 1969. Public executions at Gallows Hill were held until 1809, when penal reforms led to the abandonment of such sites.
Excavations have revealed complete and partial burials in the area, along with bone pits containing multiple bundled burials, likely the result of mass executions carried out in a short period. The bodies found within are stacked haphazardly, with skeletal remains in multiple layers, suggesting period cleaning operations were carried out by executioners.
During these operations, the remains of those previously executed were gathered and disposed of in mass graves, a process that reflected a lack of care for the dead.
According to the State Office for Monument Preservation and Archaeology of Saxony-Anhalt, “these discoveries provide unique insights into penal practices from the Middle Ages and early modern times”.
An unrelated burial has also been discovered, featuring a wooden coffin containing the skeletal remains of an individual buried with a rosary chain. The archaeologists propose that the characteristics of the burial adhere to a death by suicide, denied burial in consecrated ground so was placed in the cemetery near the gallows.
Additionally, an unsettling so-called “revenant grave” was also discovered, where the skeletal remains of a man were found placed on his back with several large stones placed across his chest. According to the researchers, the stones were likely placed to prevent the individual from rising as a revenant from the grave, which are described as animated corpses in the verbal traditions and lore of many European ethnic groups.
In medieval times, those inflicted with the condition were generally suicide victims, witches, corpses possessed by a malevolent spirit, or the victim of a vampiric attack. They were believed to return to the living world to seek revenge or cause harm.
Personal artefacts were also found scattered among the remains, including buttons, buckles and fragments of clothing. According to the research team, these items along with ceramic pieces, help paint a fuller picture of how justice was enacted and how the condemned were treated, including after death.
