Mass grave
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9a/Spanish_Civil_War_-_Mass_grave_-_Est%C3%A9par%2C_Burgos.jpg/220px-Spanish_Civil_War_-_Mass_grave_-_Est%C3%A9par%2C_Burgos.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f9/Saksalaisten_hauta%2C_Hyvink%C3%A4%C3%A4.jpg/170px-Saksalaisten_hauta%2C_Hyvink%C3%A4%C3%A4.jpg)
A mass grave is a grave containing multiple human corpses, which may or may not be identified prior to burial. The United Nations has defined a criminal mass grave as a burial site containing three or more victims of execution,[1] although an exact definition is not unanimously agreed upon.[2][3][4] Mass graves are usually created after many people die or are killed, and there is a desire to bury the corpses quickly for sanitation concerns. Although mass graves can be used during major conflicts such as war and crime, in modern times they may be used after a famine, epidemic, or natural disaster. In disasters, mass graves are used for infection and disease control. In such cases, there is often a breakdown of the social infrastructure that would enable proper identification and disposal of individual bodies.[5]
Background
[edit]Definitions
[edit]Many different definitions have been given. The Bournemouth Protocol on Mass Grave Protection and Investigation focuses on circumstances that suggest that the deaths were unlawful.[6]
Health concerns
[edit]The debate surrounding mass graves amongst epidemiologists includes whether or not, in a natural disaster, to leave corpses for traditional individual burials, or to bury corpses in mass graves. For example, if an epidemic occurs during winter, flies are less likely to infest corpses, reducing the risk of outbreaks of dysentery, diarrhea, diphtheria, or tetanus, which decreases the urgency to use mass graves. A research published in 2004 indicates that the health risks from dead bodies after natural disasters are relatively limited.[7][8]
History
[edit]Mass or communal burial was a common practice before the development of a dependable crematory chamber by Ludovico Brunetti in 1873. In ancient Rome waste and dead bodies of the poor were dumped into mass graves called puticuli.[9]
In Paris, the practice of mass burial, and in particular, the condition of the Cimetière des Innocents, led Louis XVI to eliminate Parisian cemeteries. The remains were removed and placed in the Paris underground forming the early Catacombs. Le Cimetière des Innocents alone had 6,000,000 dead to remove. Burial commenced outside the city limits in what is now Père Lachaise Cemetery.[10]
War and mass violence
[edit]Mongol Invasion of Kievan Rus' (1223 to 1241)
[edit]A mass grave containing at least 300 bodies of victims of a Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus' in the year 1238, was discovered during an excavation in 2005, in Yaroslavl, Russia.[11]
Thirty Years' War (1618 to 1648)
[edit]The Thirty Years' War, in the 17th century, was Europe's deadliest religious conflict. In the Battle of Lützen, 47 soldiers who perished were buried in a mass grave. Archaeological and osteological analyses found that the soldiers ranged in age from 15–50 years. Most corpses had evidence of blunt force trauma to the head while seven men had stabbing injuries. Most of the soldiers died from gunshot wounds inflicted by pistols and cavalry carbines.[12][13]
Napoleonic Wars (1803 to 1815)
[edit]Several mass graves have been discovered that were the result of Napoleonic battles, mass graves were dug for expeditious disposal of deceased soldiers and horses. Often soldiers would plunder the substantial quantity of corpses prior to burial. Generally the mass graves were dug by soldiers or members of logistical corps. If these units were not available, the corpses would be left to rot or would be burned. Such examples have been found scattered throughout Europe.[14][15]
Finnish Civil War (1918)
[edit]Most mass graves dug during the Finnish Civil War hold Reds, the communist Soviet-backed side.[16] Many mass graves are located in uninhabited areas near the sites of the execution including the Pohjois-Haaga mass grave, the Tammisaari mass grave and the Hyvinkää mass grave.[17] The Mustankallio Cemetery holds a mass grave of Reds executed at the Hennala camp.[16]
![]() | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (August 2024) |
Tulsa race massacre (1921)
[edit]Mass graves from the Tulsa race massacre were excavated in September 2023.[18]
Spanish Civil War (1936 to 1939)
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/de/Vista_general_d%27una_de_les_rases_de_la_fossa_del_Soler%C3%A0s.jpg/170px-Vista_general_d%27una_de_les_rases_de_la_fossa_del_Soler%C3%A0s.jpg)
There are over 2,000 known mass graves throughout Spain from the Spanish Civil War wherein an estimated 500,000 people died between 1936 and 1939, and approximately 135,000 were killed after the war ended.[19]
Exhumations are ongoing. Some are conducted on the basis of information given in witnesses' and relatives' testimonies to the Asociación para la Recuperación de la Memoria Histórica (ARMH).[20] These testimonies serve the purpose of helping geophysicists, archaeologists and forensic scientists to locate graves in order to identify bodies and allow families to rebury their relatives.[19]
In the summer of 2008, information from these testimonies was used to unearth a 4 meter long square grave containing five skeletons near the town of San Juan del Monte. These five remains are believed to be of people that were kidnapped and killed after the 18 July 1936 military coup.[20]
Another mass grave from the Spanish Civil War was found using Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR).[when?] Eyewitness accounts identified two potential locations for an unmarked grave in mountains of Lena in Northern Spain. Both sites were examined and an unmarked mass grave of approximately 1 meter by 5 meters was found.[19]
Scientists investigated a second grave in 2023.[21]
Second Sino Japanese War (1937 to 1945)
[edit]Nanjing Massacre (December 1937 to January 1938)
[edit]The Nanjing Massacre (also known as the "Rape of Nanking" using the 1930s Romanization) was the mass murder of Chinese civilians in Nanjing, the capital of the Republic of China, immediately after the Battle of Nanking and the retreat of the National Revolutionary Army in the Second Sino-Japanese War, by the Imperial Japanese Army.[22][23][24][25] Beginning on 13 December 1937, the massacre lasted six weeks.[note 1] The perpetrators also committed other war crimes such as mass rape, looting, torture, and arson. The massacre is considered to be one of the worst wartime atrocities.[27][28][29]
Datong Mass Grave
[edit]![]() | This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (May 2022) |
Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders
[edit]![]() | This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (May 2022) |
Holocaust (1941 to 1945)
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5d/Nordhausenmassgrave.jpg/220px-Nordhausenmassgrave.jpg)
The Mittelbau camps held about 60,000 prisoners of The Holocaust between August 1943 and March 1945. Conservative estimates assume that at least 20,000 inmates perished at the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp. In early April 1945, an unknown number of prisoners perished in death marches following the evacuation of prisoners from Mittelbau camps to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in northern Germany.[30][31]
In April 1945, U.S. soldiers liberated the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp. Only a few prisoners were still in the camp and the U.S. soldiers found the remains of approximately 1,300 prisoners in the Boelcke barracks.[30] The names of these prisoners are unknown.[31] Mass graves of the dead prisoners from the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp were dug by German civilians under orders from U.S. soldiers.[32][33]
1948 Palestine war
[edit]Hadassah medical convoy massacre (13 April 1948)
[edit]The Hadassah convoy massacre took place on 13 April 1948, when a convoy, escorted by Haganah militia, bringing medical and military supplies and personnel to Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus, Jerusalem, was ambushed by Arab forces.[34] The attack killed 79 people, including: medics, associated personnel, insurgent fighters from the Haganah, and one British soldier. Dozens of unidentified bodies, burned beyond recognition, were buried in a mass grave in the Sanhedria Cemetery.
Tantura massacre (23 May 1948)
[edit]Tantura was a Palestinian fishing village.[35] Historians and Palestinian survivors claimed the men in Tantura were the victims of a mass execution after surrendering to the Alexandroni Brigade, and then their bodies buried in a mass grave.[35] The grave in Tantura was investigated by Forensic Architecture,[36] a research agency based at Goldsmiths, University of London.[37] The grave is currently under the carpark of a popular Israeli beach.[38]
Korean War (1950 to 1953)
[edit]Approximately 100,000–200,000 civilians were killed at the start of the Korean War. These people were flagged by the government of South Korea for potentially collaborating with or sympathizing with North Korea. They were arrested and subsequently executed without trial.[39] The sites where the massacres occurred were forbidden to the public. The bodies were considered to be traitors and the act of associating with them was considered treasonous.[39] Despite this, families retrieved bodies from the shallow forbidden mass graves at the massacre sites.
In 1956, bereaved families and villagers exhumed over 100 decomposed and unidentifiable bodies, ensuring that the complete human skeleton was intact.[39] Each exhumed body was buried in its own "nameless grave" in a cemetery on Jeju Island. There is a granite memorial within the cemetery which bears the cemetery's local name, "Graves of One Hundred Ancestors and One Descendant."[39] This name functions to express the opposite of how the genealogy should be as typically many descendants derive from one ancestor.[39]
Vietnam War (1955 to 1975)
[edit]Numerous mass graves were discovered during the Vietnam War. In the fall of 1969, the body count unearthed from mass graves was around 2,800. During the months and years that followed the Battle of Huế, dozens of mass graves were discovered in and around Huế. The victims of the Huế massacre buried in mass graves included government officials, innocent civilians, women and children. They were tortured, executed and in some cases, buried alive.[40] The estimated death toll was between 2,800 and 6,000 civilians and prisoners of war, or 5–10% of the total population of Huế.
In Quang Ngai, a mass grave of 10 soldiers was discovered on 28 December 2011. These soldiers were buried alongside their belongings including wallets, backpacks, guns, ammunition, mirrors, and combs.[41]
Other larger mass graves of Vietnamese soldiers are believed to exist, with hundreds of soldiers in each grave.[42]
Six Day War (1967)
[edit]Israeli military historian Aryeh Yitzhaki, who worked in the IDF's history department, said he had collected testimony from dozens of officers who admitted to killing Egyptian prisoners of war at various locations during the Six Day War.[43] Yitzhaki reported the case to his superiors, but the report remained in storage at IDF headquarters, until 1995, when the Washington Post reported two mass graves at Arish in the Sinai Peninsula.[43][44][45]
Ras Sedr massacre (8 June 1967)
[edit]Ras Sedr massacre (Arabic: مجزرة رأس سدر) was the extrajudicial execution of at least 52 Egyptian prisoners of war by a paratrooper unit of the Israel Defense Forces, that took place immediately after the unit conquered Ras Sedr in the Sinai Peninsula on 8 June 1967 during the Six-Day War.[43]
El Arish massacre (8 June 1967)
[edit]In 1995 two mass graves were found near Arish.[46] According to the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights, the Israeli Defense Forces massacred "hundreds” of Egyptian prisoners of war or wounded soldiers in the Sinai peninsula, on 8 June 1967. Survivors alleged that approximately 400 wounded Egyptians were buried alive outside the captured El Arish International Airport, and that 150 prisoners in the mountains of the Sinai were run over by Israeli tanks.[47] Egyptian researchers have found mass graves of Egyptian POWs from 1967.[48] The expedition was sponsored by al-Ahram, Cairo's government-run newspaper in 1995.[49] Conservative Israeli media and the Boston-based pro-Israel media advocacy organization "CAMERA" deny that there was a "massacre".[50][51]
Graves at Kibbutz Nahshon
[edit]After the Six-Day War in 1967, some 80 Egyptian soldiers were buried in a mass-grave in fields tended by kibbutz Nahshon. The field was later turned into a theme park called "Mini Israel".[52][53] The commanders included 25 who burnt to death in a wild fire.[52] An attempt to publish this information in the 1990s was forbidden by the military censor, but the suppression order was lifted in 2022.[52] After publication in Israeli newspapers, Yedioth Ahronoth and Haaretz, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi raised the issue with Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, who directed his military secretary, "to examine the issue in-depth and to update Egyptian officials".[54]
1973 Chilean coup d'état
[edit]The Chilean military coup against President Salvador Allende occurred on 11 September 1973. The military surrounded Santiago and searched for people hiding in potential guerilla insurgent locations. Civilians were detained for long periods of time and some disappeared.[39] Following the coup, bodies were abundant in the streets and in the Mapocho River. It is estimated that 3,200 people were executed or disappeared between 1973 and 1990 in Chile. Higher estimates are up to 4,500 people.[39] These bodies were taken to morgues to be identified and claimed. Unidentified bodies were buried in marked mass graves.[39]
From this conflict, several hidden mass graves have been identified. In December 1978, 15 bodies were discovered in an abandoned limestone mine in Lonquén. In October 1979, 19 bodies were exhumed after being secretly buried at the cemetery of Yumbel.[39] Mass graves were also identified in Santiago's General Cemetery with multiple bodies being forced into a single coffin. This cemetery had an influx of over 300 bodies within a three-month time span. These mass graves were distinguished by a cross with the initials "NN." "NN" is indicative of the phrase "Nomen Nescio" or "no name." Following extensive media coverage of these mass graves, the Chilean military decided to exhume the bodies from Lonquén, Yumbel, and Santiago's General Cemetery. The military airdropped the exhumed bodies over open water or remote mountain locations.[39]
1974 Turkish Invasion of Cyprus
[edit]Many mass graves of both Turkish and Greek Cypriots were found in Cyprus after Turkey invaded the island in 1974.[55][56] On 3 August, 14 Greek Cypriot civilians were executed and buried in a mass grave.[57] In Eptakomi 12 Greek Cypriots were found in a mass grave executed with their hands tied.[58] On the other hand, during the Maratha, Santalaris and Aloda massacre, 126 Turkish Cypriots including elderly people and children[59] were murdered by EOKA B and the inhabitants of the three villages were buried in mass graves with a bulldozer. The villagers of Maratha and Santalaris, 84 to 89 people in total,[60] were buried in the same grave.[61] Mass graves were used to bury Turkish Cypriot victims of Tochni massacre too.[56]
Cambodian genocide (1975 to 1979)
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/de/Cambodia_2011_monuments_20.jpg/220px-Cambodia_2011_monuments_20.jpg)
Mass grave mapping teams have located 125 Khmer Rouge prison facilities and corresponding gravesites to date in Cambodia while researching the Killing Fields. These mass graves are believed by villagers to possess tutelary spirits and signify the dead bodies becoming one with the earth. Buddhist rituals, which were taboo at the time, were performed in the 1980s which transformed the anonymous bodies into "spirits of the departed." In the 1990s, religious ceremonies were re-established and the Festival of the Dead was celebrated annually.[62]
1976 Argentine coup d'état
[edit]On at 3:21 AM on 24 March 1976, the media told the people of Argentina that the country was now under the "operational control of the Junta of General Commanders of the Armed Forces."[39] This event and years following it became known as the 1976 Argentine coup d'état. President Isabel Perón had been taken captive two hours prior to the media announcement. The new dictatorship implemented travel bans, public gatherings, and a nighttime curfew.[39] Additionally, the new dictatorship resulted in widespread violence, leading to executions and casualties.
Abducted captives were disposed of in one of the five defense zones within Argentina where they were held. The bodies were typically buried in individual marked anonymous graves. Three mass graves are known to exist on Argentinian police and military premises although other bodies were disposed of through cremation or by being airdropped over the Atlantic Ocean. Approximately 15,000 people are estimated to have been assassinated.[39]
Argentina's largest mass grave's exhumation began in March 1984 at the San Vicente Cemetery in Cordoba. The grave was 3.5 meters deep and 25 by 2.5 meters across. It contained approximately 400 bodies.[39] Of the recovered and exhumed bodies, 123 were of young people violently killed during the 1976–1983 dictatorship. The remaining bodies were identified as older and having died nonviolent deaths such as leprosy.[39]
Rwandan genocide (1994)
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5f/View_over_Nyabarongo_River_-_Where_Tutsi_Victims_Were_Thrown_in_1994_-_Outside_Kigali_-_Rwanda.jpg/220px-View_over_Nyabarongo_River_-_Where_Tutsi_Victims_Were_Thrown_in_1994_-_Outside_Kigali_-_Rwanda.jpg)
The Rwandan genocide began after the unsolved death of the Rwandan president, Juvénal Habyarimana, on 6 April 1994. Extremist members of the Hutu government formed an interim wartime government. They called for an extermination of the Tutsi population, Hutu political opponents and Hutu who resisted the violence.[63] The genocide lasted 100 days and resulted in an estimated 800,000 killings.[64]
Rwandan people sought refuge in gathering places such as churches and stadiums. An estimated 4,000–6,000 people gathered in Kibuye Catholic Church. Around 17 April 1994, the church was surrounded by armed civilians, police and gendarmes. Those inside were attacked with a variety of weapons including grenades, guns, and machetes. Survivors of the attack were sought after and killed in the following days. Burial of these bodies took place in at least four mass graves.[65]
The first mass grave resulting from this attack was discovered behind the church where several bodies were left unburied and scattered. In December 1995, archaeologists surveyed the area and flagged any potential human remains. In January 1996, forensic anthropologists located and exhumed 53 skeletal assemblages.[65] A second mass grave was found under a tree marked with wire, indicating a memorial. Below the tree was a trench filled with multiple bodies. The third and fourth mass graves were found using a probe to test for deteriorating remains. The third grave was marked by the local population, similar to the second grave. The fourth grave was identified by a priest.[65]
Throughout the Rwandan genocide, bodies were buried in mass graves, left exposed, or disposed of through rivers. At least 40,000 bodies have been discovered in Lake Victoria which connects to Akagera River.[62]
Srebrenica massacre (1995)
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/32/Srebrenica_Massacre_-_Mass_Gravesite_-_Potocari_2007.jpg/220px-Srebrenica_Massacre_-_Mass_Gravesite_-_Potocari_2007.jpg)
Victims of the Srebrenica massacre were murdered by the Army of Republika Srpska and buried in mass graves. Serb forces used mass graves throughout the Bosnian War and thousands of victims remain unidentified as of 2017.[66]
Second Libyan Civil War (2014 to 2020)
[edit]The Second Libyan Civil War that began in 2014 is a proxy war between the UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) of Fayez al-Sarraj and the Libyan National Army (LNA) of the militia leader Khalifa Haftar. In 2020, the GNA ousted the forces of Haftar, who is backed by the United Arab Emirates and Russia, and captured Tarhuna. The GNA discovered mass graves in the Harouda farm of the town that was under the control of the Kaniyat militiamen, who allied with Haftar in 2019. For a decade, the Kaniyat militia brutalized and killed more than a thousand civilians, where around 650 were murdered in 14 months under the UAE-backed Haftar forces. Thousands of holes were dug by government workers, where 120 bodies recovered. The unearthed remains were used by the families to identify the missing members and only 59 bodies were claimed. Survivors reported that the Kaniyat militia aligned with the UAE-backed Haftar tortured or electrocuted them. Many also reported being beaten by the militia.[67]
Russian Invasion of Ukraine (2022 to present)
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/93/The_city_of_Bucha_after_liberation_from_the_Russians_01.jpg/220px-The_city_of_Bucha_after_liberation_from_the_Russians_01.jpg)
Bucha
[edit]On 1 April 2022, following the Russian withdrawal, video footage was posted to social media, that showed mass civilian casualties. By 9 April, Ukrainian forensic investigators had begun recovering bodies from mass graves, such as at the church of Andrew the Apostle.[68] 116 bodies were found in the mass grave near the Church of Andrew the Apostle.[69] On 21 April, Human Rights Watch published an extensive report that summarized their own investigation in Bucha, implicating Russian troops in summary executions, other unlawful killings, enforced disappearances, and torture.[70]
Mariupol
[edit]Mariupol's deputy mayor Serhii Orlov stated on 9 March 2022 that at least 1,170 civilians in the city had been killed in the city since Russia's invasion began and the dead were being buried in mass graves.[71]
By April 2022 several new mass graves located in vicinity of Mariupol were discovered using satellite footage.[72]
In early November 2022, Ukraine stated that at least 25,000 civilians had been killed in Mariupol.[73] In late December 2022, based on the discovery of 10,300 new mass graves, the Associated Press estimated that the true death toll may be up to three times that figure.[74]
Izium
[edit]On 15 September 2022, several mass graves, including one site containing at least 440 bodies were found in woods near the Ukrainian city of Izium after it was recaptured by Ukrainian forces.[75][76] The graves contained bodies of people who were killed by Russian forces.[77][78][79] One of the victims was a Ukrainian poet, children's writer, activist and Wikipedian Volodymyr Vakulenko.
According to Ukrainian investigators, 447 bodies were discovered: 414 bodies of civilians (215 men, 194 women, 5 children), 22 servicemen, and 11 bodies whose gender had not yet been determined as of 23 September 2022. Most of the dead showed signs of violent death and 30 presented traces of torture and summary execution, including ropes around their necks, bound hands, broken limbs and genital amputation.[80]
Israel–Gaza war (2023 to present)
[edit]Nasser Medical Complex, Khan Yunis
[edit]In April 2024, following the withdrawal of israeli forces, over 300 bodies of young men, women, and children were unearthed at the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, Gaza, after Israeli military withdrawal. The bodies exhibited signs of having been bound and potentially executed in the field. Reports indicate that two other mass graves have been identified, but have yet to be excavated.[81][82][83]
Al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza City
[edit]In April 2024, health workers in Gaza exhumed the first bodies from mass graves at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, where at least 381 bodies were found after the withdrawal of Israeli forces, following their two-week siege. Officials claim that many bodies showed signs of severe trauma, including being crushed or disfigured, and claim this is partially the result of being run over by Israeli tanks.[84] The graves included both buried and above-ground remains, some under dirt or plastic sheeting.[84][85]
Mass executions
[edit]Soviet mass killings
[edit]![17 men, most in military uniform, stand in a cemetery, inspecting two graves.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/af/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-J15385%2C_Katyn%2C_%C3%96ffnung_der_Massengr%C3%A4ber%2C_Gr%C3%A4ber_polnischer_Generale.jpg/220px-Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-J15385%2C_Katyn%2C_%C3%96ffnung_der_Massengr%C3%A4ber%2C_Gr%C3%A4ber_polnischer_Generale.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f5/Vinnycia16.jpg/220px-Vinnycia16.jpg)
In July 2010, a mass grave was discovered next to the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg, containing the corpses of 80 military officers executed during the Red Terror of 1918–1921.[86] By 2013 a total of 156 bodies had been found in the same location.[87] At about the same time a mass grave from the Stalinist period was discovered in Vladivostok, on Russia's Pacific coast.[88]
Communist regime massacres in Yugoslavia
[edit]- Bleiburg repatriations
- Communist purges against Hungarians and Germans in Serbia in 1944–45
- Barbara Pit massacre
- Mass graves in Slovenia
so-called Islamic State in Mosul
[edit]![]() | This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (July 2024) |
Residential institutions
[edit]Mother and baby homes
[edit]Bethany Home
[edit]In 2010, the bodies of 222 infants from Bethany Home, were found in a mass unmarked grave in Dublin.[89]
Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home
[edit]![]() | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (July 2024) |
Canadian residential schools
[edit]![]() | This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (July 2024) |
Famine
[edit]The Great Famine
[edit]Ireland's Great Famine lasted from 1845 to 1849, a period wherein about one million people died.[90] Because of the excessive number of deaths and extreme poverty, many families were unable to provide a wake or proper burial for loved ones and used mass graves instead. Archaeological excavations have taken place on Irish mass burial sites. One excavation revealed a mass grave of nearly 1,000 individuals. The skeletons within the grave were layered on top of each other in multiple sub-rectangular pits positioned less than a meter apart.[91]
Industrial disasters
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/96/Mass_grave_at_Stillwater_for_Brunner_Mine_disaster_victimes.jpg/220px-Mass_grave_at_Stillwater_for_Brunner_Mine_disaster_victimes.jpg)
Brunner Mine disaster
[edit]The Brunner Mine disaster occurred at 9:30 a.m. on 26 March 1896. An underground explosion caused the death of 65 miners, making it New Zealand's deadliest mining disaster. Of the 53 victims buried in Stillwater cemetery, 33 victims were in one mass grave.[92]
Natural disasters
[edit]2010 Haitian earthquake
[edit]Following the 2010 Haiti earthquake, thousands of bodies were left in the streets on Port-au-Prince, exposed to the sun and beginning to decompose and smell.[5] The government of Haiti collected the bodies on the street, along with rubble through use of dump trucks and other heavy machinery. The bodies and rubble were then transported to empty rectangular holes, 20 feet deep, 20 feet wide and 100 feet long.[93] No efforts were taken to identify the dead that were transported and buried.
Within Haitian culture, burial rituals hold great significance and the sacred ceremonies can cost more than their own homes.[93] There is a Haitian Vodou belief that the dead continue to live and are connected to their ancestors through these rituals. The burial of unidentified corpses in mass graves rather than familial plots severs this spiritual link between the living and dead.[93]
2013 Typhoon Haiyan
[edit]As the casualties of the Typhoon Haiyan were in the thousands, unidentified or unknown corpses were buried in several mass graves in Leyte (especially in Tacloban City where the most deaths happened), Samar, and other areas, while identified corpses were given to their families for burial.
2023 earthquakes in Syria and Turkey
[edit]![]() | This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (July 2024) |
Epidemics and pandemics
[edit]Bubonic plague
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1b/Bubonic_plague_victims-mass_grave_in_Martigues%2C_France_1720-1721.jpg/220px-Bubonic_plague_victims-mass_grave_in_Martigues%2C_France_1720-1721.jpg)
The bubonic plague outbreak existed in three pandemic waves and is known as the Black Death. In the 1300s alone, an estimated 20–30 million people were killed in Europe and approximately 12 million people were killed in China.[94] These deaths were at least 30 percent of the European population at that time. The last major outbreak of the bubonic plague occurred in London from 1665–1666 and is known as The Great Plague.[95]
In March 2013, a plague pit of 25 skeletons was found in a 5.5 meter-wide shaft during the construction of a new railway in London. The skeletons were neatly lined up in two rows and were about 8 feet underground.[94] Samples from 12 corpses were taken and forensic analysis confirmed traces of DNA from Yersinia pestis.[96]
1918 flu pandemic
[edit]In several territories, the amount of death caused by the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic was beyond the capacities of funeral industry, requiring the use of mass graves.[97] Several mass graves of Spanish flu victims were created in Australia,[98] Canada,[99] and the United States.[100][101]
Mass burials of Ebola victims
[edit]Burial practices were a controversial aspect of the West African Ebola epidemic. Traditional burial practices exacerbated spread of the disease,[102] an Ebola victim is most contagious in the moments and days after death and contact with infected bodily fluids from a recently dead Ebola victim's body carries an extremely high risk of transmission,[103] but burial practices that were seen as disrespectful exacerbated distrust of foreign medical workers.[104]
In most cases there were mass burials of numerous individual graves,[105] family but were often unable to participate in burial rituals.[102]
Sometimes multiple bodies were placed in single unmarked graves.[104]
Mass burials during the COVID-19 pandemic
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/02/3407559_%D8%AA%D8%AF%D9%81%DB%8C%D9%86_%D9%85%D8%AA%D9%88%D9%81%DB%8C%D8%A7%D9%86_%D9%85%D8%A8%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%A7_%D8%A8%D9%87_%DA%A9%D8%B1%D9%88%D9%86%D8%A7_%D8%AF%D8%B1_%D8%A2%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%A7%D9%86_%D8%A8%D9%87%D8%B4%D8%AA_%D9%85%D8%B9%D8%B5%D9%88%D9%85%D9%87.jpg/250px-3407559_%D8%AA%D8%AF%D9%81%DB%8C%D9%86_%D9%85%D8%AA%D9%88%D9%81%DB%8C%D8%A7%D9%86_%D9%85%D8%A8%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%A7_%D8%A8%D9%87_%DA%A9%D8%B1%D9%88%D9%86%D8%A7_%D8%AF%D8%B1_%D8%A2%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%A7%D9%86_%D8%A8%D9%87%D8%B4%D8%AA_%D9%85%D8%B9%D8%B5%D9%88%D9%85%D9%87.jpg)
Qom, Iran
[edit]Reports of mass graves having been dug for COVID-19 victims have been made about Iran, using satellite pictures of sites near Qom as evidence.[106][107][108] On 12 March 2020 The Washington Post published satellite images and analysis provided by Maxar Technologies, saying that vast burial pits were being excavated near Qom, said to be used to accommodate people who died of COVID in the city. The digging of the new section of burial pits began on 21 February 2020, only two days after the government announced their first cases of COVID-19, and then rapidly expanded. The number of fresh graves suggests preparation for a far larger number of deaths.[109][110]
New York City
[edit]In New York City, mass graves were prepared in Hart Island for an influx of dead;[111][112] however, other reports said mass graves would be unlikely in the United States.[113] University of Huddersfield experts said mass graves might be considered if local services end up overwhelmed.[114][115][116] Following the rise of deaths and morgues being overwhelmed, New York City temporarily allowed for mass graves on Hart Island for unclaimed bodies.[117][118]
Manaus, Brazil
[edit]In Brazil, the city of Manaus, in the state of Amazonas, used mass graves[119][120] after a large spike in deaths attributed to the pandemic.
List of mass burials by location
[edit]![]() |
- ^ year-month-day (YYYY-MM-DD)
- ^ ranging from −180° West to +180° East.
- ^ The increase in deaths was due to COVID-19, but the bodies that ended up buried on Hart Island died from a variety of causes. Hart Island has been used for many years as a burial ground for unclaimed bodies.
See also
[edit]- Chemmani mass graves investigation
- Crab Island (Lake Champlain)
- Duffy's Cut
- Duraiappa stadium mass grave
- Guba mass grave
- Maguindanao massacre
- Mass graves in Chechnya
- Mass graves in Iraq
- Mass graves in Slovenia
- Mirusuvil massacre
- Plague pit
- Potter's field
- Sooriyakanda mass grave
- Srebrenica massacre
- Disaster management
- Vukovar massacre
- Trench
- List of accidents and disasters by death toll
Notes
[edit]- ^ "Six weeks long" is a convenient figure but far from precise. Killings were most intense in the first five days from 13 December and remained moderately intense until 31 December 1937, according to the Japanese military records. From 7 February 1938, killings were no longer in mass fashion as the senior Japanese officers came to restore discipline of their troops, according to the testimony of Miner Searle Bates, a humanitarian leader of the Nanking Safety Zone. None of the above dates is close to "six weeks", which should correspond to 24 January 1938. Bates testified before the Tokyo Trial on 29 July 1946, pioneering the use of "six weeks long" and describing the respective duration of random murder, looting and arson.[26]
References
[edit]- ^ Human remains and identification. Oxford University Press. 2015. pp. 169–171. ISBN 978-1784991975.
- ^ Mant, A.K. (1987). "Knowledge acquired from post-War exhumations". In Boddington, A.; Garland, A.N.; Janaway, R.C. (eds.). Death, Decay, and Reconstruction: Approaches to Archaeology and Forensic Science. Manchester University Press. pp. 65–78. ISBN 0-7190-2303-3.
- ^ Skinner, M. (1987). "Planning the archeological recovery of evidence from recent mass graves". Forensic Science International. 34 (4) (34 ed.): 267–287. doi:10.1016/0379-0738(87)90040-5. PMID 3305249.
- ^ Cox, M.; Flavel, A.; Hanson, I.; Laver, J.; Wessling, R., eds. (2008). The Scientific Investigation of Mass Graves: Towards Protocols and Standard Operating Procedures. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521865876.
- ^ a b Park, Madison. "Where bodies go after natural disasters - CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
- ^ Klinkner ME, Smith EL. The Bournemouth protocol on mass grave protection and investigation. Arts and Humanities Research Council. 2020;28.
- ^ "Mass graves draw out the pain for quake-hit Haitians". Reuters. 20 January 2010. Archived from the original on 24 January 2010.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "Infectious Disease Risks From Dead Bodies Following Natural Disasters" (PDF). Pan Am J Public Health. 15 (5). 2004. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 February 2019. Retrieved 29 January 2010.
- ^ Emmerson, Allison L. C. (24 May 2020). Life and Death in the Roman Suburb. Oxford University Press. pp. 92–98. ISBN 978-0-19-259409-9.
- ^ Krupa, Frederique (1991). "Paris: Urban Sanitation Before the 20th Century".
- ^ Weisberger, Mindy (10 September 2019). "13th-Century Death Pit Reveals Murdered Family in the 'City Drowned in Blood'". livescience.com. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
- ^ Nicklisch, Nicole; Ramsthaler, Frank; Meller, Harald; Friederich, Susanne; Alt, Kurt W. (2017). "The face of war: Trauma analysis of a mass grave from the Battle of Lützen (1632)". PLOS ONE. 12 (5): e0178252. Bibcode:2017PLoSO..1278252N. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0178252. PMC 5439951. PMID 28542491.
- ^ Killgrove, Kristina. "Mass Grave From Thirty Years' War Reveals Brutal Cavalry Attack". Forbes. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
- ^ "Archaeologists Seek Mass Graves in Waterloo Battlefield". artnet News. 10 February 2015. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
- ^ Arce, Nicole (12 June 2018). "Archaeologists Dig Up Mass Grave Of Soldiers Crushed By Napoleon's Troops". Tech Times. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
- ^ a b "Finland plans to rebury civil war dead in churchyard". 24 January 2018. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
- ^ Ylimaunu, Timo; Mullins, Paul R.; Aalto, Sirpa (11 July 2024). "Place, Memory, and the Landscape of Finnish Civil War Reconciliation". Historical Archaeology. doi:10.1007/s41636-024-00503-w. ISSN 2328-1103.
- ^ "WW I veteran is first Tulsa Race Massacre victim identified from mass graves". Voice of America. 13 July 2024. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
- ^ a b c Fernández-Álvarez, José-Paulino; Rubio-Melendi, David; Martínez-Velasco, Antxoka; Pringle, Jamie K.; Aguilera, Hector-David (2016). "Discovery of a mass grave from the Spanish Civil War using Ground Penetrating Radar and forensic archaeology". Forensic Science International. 267: e10–e17. doi:10.1016/j.forsciint.2016.05.040. ISSN 0379-0738. PMID 27318840.
- ^ a b Ríos, Luis; García-Rubio, Almudena; Martínez, Berta; Alonso, Andrea; Puente, Jorge (2012). "Identification process in mass graves from the Spanish Civil War II". Forensic Science International. 219 (1–3): e4–e9. doi:10.1016/j.forsciint.2011.11.021. ISSN 0379-0738. PMID 22227148.
- ^ "Mass grave exhumation daughter Spanish Civil War victim seeks closure". Reuters. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
- ^ "International Memory of the World Register Documents of Nanjing Massacre" (PDF). UNESCO. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 April 2022. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
- ^ Smalley, Martha L. (1997). American Missionary Eyewitnesses to the Nanking Massacre, 1937-1938. Connecticut: Yale Divinity Library Occasional Publications. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
- ^ Chang, Iris. 1997. The Rape of Nanking. p. 6.
- ^ Lee, Min (31 March 2010). "New film has Japan vets confessing to Nanjing rape". Salon.com. Associated Press. Archived from the original on 31 October 2022. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
- ^ Library of Congress, ed. (1964–1974). "29 July 1946. Prosecution's Witnesses. Bates, Miner Searle". Record of proceedings of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. pp. 2631, 2635, 2636, 2642–2645. Archived from the original on 14 December 2021. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
- ^ Masahiro Yamamoto, Nanking: Anatomy of an Atrocity (Westport, Connecticut: Praeger, 2000), p. 193.
- ^ Suping Lu (2019). The 1937–1938 Nanjing Atrocities. Springer. p. 33. ISBN 978-9811396564. Archived from the original on 23 September 2023. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
- ^ Fogel, Joshua A. (2000). The Nanjing Massacre in History and Historiography. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. p. 248. ISBN 978-0520220072.
- ^ a b "Liberation of Dora-Mittelbau — United States Holocaust Memorial Museum". ushmm.org. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
- ^ a b "Mittelbau-Dora Memorial". www.buchenwald.de.
- ^ "The bodies of prisoners killed in the Nordhausen concentration camp lie in a mass grave dug by German civilians under orders from American troops. – Collections Search – United States Holocaust Memorial Museum". collections.ushmm.org. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
- ^ "Nordhausen Civilians Dig Mass Graves". fcit.usf.edu. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
- ^ "Court orders Twitter to identify anti-Semitic users". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. 26 January 2013. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
- ^ a b McKernan, Bethan; correspondent, Bethan McKernan Jerusalem (25 May 2023). "UK study of 1948 Israeli massacre of Palestinian village reveals mass grave sites". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
{{cite news}}
:|last2=
has generic name (help) - ^ "Forensic Architecture". forensic-architecture.org. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
- ^ "Forensic Architecture". forensic-architecture.org. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
- ^ "Israel says it will probe 1967 mass grave of Egyptian soldiers". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Robben, Antonius C. G. M.; Ferrándiz, Francisco, eds. (2015). Necropolitics : mass graves and exhumations in the age of human rights. Wilson, Richard (First ed.). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 9780812247206. OCLC 911497054.
- ^ Dror, Olga (20 February 2018). "Opinion | Learning From the Hue Massacre". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
- ^ "Vietnam: Mass grave of war martyrs unearthed in Quang Ngai". Asia News Monitor. 2011. ProQuest 913076619.
- ^ "Vietnam: Vietnam receives information on soldiers' mass graves". Asia News Monitor. 2016. ProQuest 1786292818.
- ^ a b c معروف, مصطفى. "من رأس سدر إلى القُدس.. هذه أبشع مجازر إسرائيل بحق الأسرى المصريين". www.aljazeera.net (in Arabic). Retrieved 16 March 2023.
- ^ معروف, مصطفى. "من رأس سدر إلى القُدس.. هذه أبشع مجازر إسرائيل بحق الأسرى المصريين". الجزيرة نت (in Arabic). Retrieved 26 July 2024.
- ^ https://aja.me/a2zku9https://aja.me/a2zku9
- ^ Ibrahim, Youssef M. (21 September 1995). "Egypt Says Israelis Killed P.O.W.'s in '67 War". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
- ^ Kassim, Anis F., ed. (2000). The Palestine Yearbook of International Law, 1998-1999. Martinus Nijhoff. p. 181.
- ^ "Egyptian POW graves said found in Sinai - UPI Archives". UPI. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
A team guided by an Egyptian veteran of the 1967 Arab-Israeli war has unearthed in the Sinai Peninsula two mass graves of Egyptian prisoners of war allegedly killed by the Israeli army…
- ^ "Egyptian POW graves said found in Sinai - UPI Archives". UPI. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
Cairo's government-run newspaper al-Ahram said Wednesday. The daily newspaper, which sponsored the expedition, said excavators and a dredger dug for just six hours before finding the first grave with the help of Abdel-Salam Moussa, a former Egyptian POW who allegedly helped bury his comrades 28 years ago.
- ^ "UN soldiers doubt 1967 killing of POWs". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. 29 March 2007. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
- ^ "False Israeli 'Massacre' Story Resurrected". CAMERA. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
- ^ a b c https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2022-07-08/ty-article-magazine/.highlight/revealed-80-egyptian-commandos-buried-under-israeli-tourist-attraction/00000181-d965-d95d-ab91-ff6f1b260000 archive https://archive.today/20220708072435/https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2022-07-08/ty-article-magazine/.highlight/revealed-80-egyptian-commandos-buried-under-israeli-tourist-attraction/00000181-d965-d95d-ab91-ff6f1b260000 Revealed: Dozens of Egyptian Commandos Are Buried Under an Israeli Tourist Attraction, Adam Raz, 8 July 2022, Haaretz.
- ^ "Israel says it will probe 1967 mass grave of Egyptian soldiers". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
- ^ "Israel to examine reports of Egyptian soldiers buried under Israeli tourist park". Middle East Eye. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
- ^ Zikakou, Ioanna (4 September 2015). "Mass Greek-Cypriot Grave Found in Occupied Cyprus | GreekReporter.com". Retrieved 9 June 2020.
- ^ a b "Mass grave of massacred Turkish Cypriots found in Cyprus". worldbulletin.net/ (in Turkish). Retrieved 9 June 2020.
- ^ Karadimas, Nektarios (28 June 2016), "Agios Vasilios in Lakonia", The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., p. 1, doi:10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah30180, ISBN 978-1-4443-3838-6
- ^ "Bones don't speak". the Guardian. 15 April 2008. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
- ^ "CYPRUS: Ankara's Slow Nibble". Time. 16 September 1974. Archived from the original on 22 December 2008. Retrieved 19 January 2011.
- ^ "The Victoria Advocate – Google News Archive Search". news.google.com.
- ^ Oberling, Pierre (1982). The Road to Bellapais: The Turkish Cypriot Exodus to Northern Cyprus. Social Science Monographs. ISBN 978-0-88033-000-8.
- ^ a b Dreyfus, Jean-Marc; Anstett, Élisabeth, eds. (20 January 2015). Human remains and mass violence: methodological approaches. Manchester. ISBN 9780719096501. OCLC 953458622.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ After mass crime : rebuilding states and communities. Pouligny, Béatrice., Chesterman, Simon., Schnabel, Albrecht. Tokyo: United Nations University Press. 2007. ISBN 9789280811384. OCLC 226911996.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: others (link) - ^ "Rwanda: How the genocide happened". BBC News. 17 May 2011. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
- ^ a b c Haglud, W.D.; Connor, M; Scott, D.D. (2001). "The Archaeology of Contemporary Mass Graves". Historical Archaeology. 35 (1): 57–69. doi:10.1007/BF03374527. JSTOR 25616893. PMID 17600960. S2CID 30867057.
- ^ "AP PHOTOS: Many Bosnian war victims still unidentified". AP NEWS. 18 November 2017. Retrieved 13 October 2020.
- ^ "Mass murder and the sin of silence". The Washington Post. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
- ^ "With bloodied gloves, forensic teams uncover gruesome secrets of Bucha in Ukraine". The Guardian. 9 April 2022. Archived from the original on 9 April 2022. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
- ^ "Buried as numbers, more of Bucha's victims are laid to rest". Associated Press. 12 August 2022. Archived from the original on 31 December 2023. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
- ^ "Ukraine: Russian Forces' Trail of Death in Bucha". Human Rights Watch. 25 April 2022. Archived from the original on 21 April 2022. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
- ^ "Ukraine says 1,170 civilians have been killed in Mariupol since Russian invasion". Reuters. 9 March 2022. Archived from the original on 10 March 2022. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
- ^ "Several mass graves have been discovered in the Mariupol district". 23 April 2022. Archived from the original on 31 December 2023. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
- ^ "The agony of not knowing, as Mariupol mass burial sites grow". BBC News. 7 November 2022. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
- ^ "Russia scrubs Mariupol's Ukraine identity, builds on death". Associated Press. 22 December 2022. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
- ^ Lamb, William (15 September 2022). "A mass grave site with 440 bodies was found in Izium, a police official said". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 16 September 2022. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
- ^ "Mass grave of more than 440 bodies found in Izium, Ukraine, police say". Reuters. 15 September 2022. Archived from the original on 15 September 2022.
- ^ Luke Harding (17 September 2022). "Izium: after Russian retreat, horrors of Russian occupation are revealed". The Guardian. Izium. Archived from the original on 17 September 2022. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
- ^ Koshiw, Isobel; Lorenzo, Tondo (16 September 2022). "'Some hanged themselves': the work to find answers amid Izium's mass grave". The Guardian. Izium. Archived from the original on 16 September 2022.
- ^ Julia Skoryk (19 September 2022). ""Przebaczyć? Nigdy! To jest nasz wielki, palący ból". Pomordowanych w Iziumie mogą być tysiące" ["Forgive? Never! This our great, burning pain". There may be thousands of murdered people in Izium.]. ukrayina.pl (in Polish and Ukrainian). Lviv: gazeta.pl. Archived from the original on 19 September 2022. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
- ^ "В Ізюмі закінчили ексгумацію – підняли 447 тіл, серед них багато жінок, є діти". Українська правда (in Ukrainian). 23 September 2022. Archived from the original on 27 September 2022. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
- ^ "More than 300 bodies found in mass grave at Gaza hospital, says Gaza Civil Defense". CNN. 23 April 2024. Retrieved 23 April 2024.
- ^ "Nearly 200 bodies found in mass grave at hospital in Gaza's Khan Younis". Al Jazeera. 21 April 2024. Retrieved 21 April 2024.
- ^ "UN rights chief 'horrified' by mass grave reports at Gaza hospitals". Reuters. 23 April 2024. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
- ^ a b "'Tell us where our children are?' First bodies exhumed from mass graves at Al-Shifa Hospital after Israeli siege". CNN. 9 April 2024. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
- ^ "Mass graves in Gaza show victims' hands were tied, says UN rights office". UN News. 23 April 2024. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
- ^ "More 'red terror' remains found in Russia". UPI.
- ^ "St Petersburg by Petropavlovsk fortress [C] Executions & burials". mapofmemory.org. 19 August 2014.
- ^ "Stalin-era mass grave yields tons of bones". Reuters. 9 June 2010 – via www.reuters.com.
- ^ O'Sullivan, Claire (2 April 2014). "Monument to Bethany Home's 222 dead children unveiled". Irish Examiner. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 9 June 2014.
- ^ Ross, David (2002). Ireland: History of a Nation (New ed.). New Lanark: Geddes & Grosset. ISBN 1842051644. OCLC 52945911.
- ^ Jonny, Geber. Victims of Ireland's great famine : the bioarchaeology of mass burials at Kilkenny Union Workhouse. Larsen, Clark Spencer. Gainesville. ISBN 9780813055633. OCLC 921889193.
- ^ "Brunner mine disaster kills 65 | NZHistory, New Zealand history online". nzhistory.govt.nz. Archived from the original on 29 April 2018. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
- ^ a b c Cave, Damien (2010). "As Haitians Flee, the Dead Go Uncounted". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
- ^ a b Smith-Spark, Laura (16 March 2013). "London rail excavation unearths suspected 'plague pit'". CNN.
- ^ Wade, Nicholas (31 October 2010). "Europe's Plagues Came From China, Study Finds". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331.
- ^ Morgan, James (30 March 2014). "Crossrail digs up Black Death victims". BBC News.
- ^ Schoch-Spana, Monica (1 December 2000). "Implications of Pandemic Influenza for Bioterrorism Response". Clinical Infectious Diseases. 31 (6): 1409–1413. doi:10.1086/317493. ISSN 1058-4838. PMID 11096011.
- ^ Hegarty, Nicole (7 December 2019). "Likely mass graves uncovered in Queensland community decimated by deadly flu". ABC News. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
- ^ "When half the city took ill". The Toronto Star. 2 May 2009. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
- ^ Klein, Christopher (12 February 2020). "How America Struggled to Bury Its Dead During the 1918 Flu Pandemic". HISTORY. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
- ^ "100 years ago, 'Spanish flu' shut down Philadelphia – and wiped out thousands". phillyvoice.com. 27 September 2018. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
- ^ a b Ratcliffe, Rebecca (18 April 2017). "Grief etched in stone: Sierra Leone finally lays Ebola to rest – in pictures". the Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
- ^ Baker, Aryn (7 October 2014). "Liberia Burns its Bodies as Ebola Fears Run Rampant". TIME. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
- ^ a b Nielsen, Carrie F.; Kidd, Sarah; Sillah, Ansumana R.M.; Davis, Edward; Mermin, Jonathan; Kilmarx, Peter H. (16 January 2015). "Improving Burial Practices and Cemetery Management During an Ebola Virus Disease Epidemic — Sierra Leone, 2014". Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 64 (1): 20–27. ISSN 0149-2195. PMC 4584795. PMID 25590682.
- ^ Nossiter, Adam (23 September 2014). "Fresh Graves Point to Undercount of Ebola Toll". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
- ^ "Mass graves in Iran for coronavirus deaths". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
- ^ "Coronavirus deaths in Iran lead to mass burial pits, changing the way families mourn". Los Angeles Times. 18 March 2020. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
- ^ Borger, Julian (12 March 2020). "Satellite images show Iran has built mass graves amid coronavirus outbreak". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
- ^ *Cunningham, Erin; Bennett, Dalton (12 March 2020). "Coronavirus burial pit so vast they're visible from space". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 13 March 2020. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
- ^ Iran is building a massive grave for coronavirus victims on YouTube. published on 13 March 2020 by The Washington Post
- ^ Collman, Ashley (10 March 2020). "New York City's contingency plan for 'biological outbreaks' includes mobile refrigerator units for dead bodies and mass graves dug by inmates". Business Insider. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
- ^ Grim, Ryan (31 March 2020). "Rikers Island Prisoners Are Being Offered PPE and $6 an Hour to Dig Mass Graves". The Intercept. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
- ^ Hughes, Trevor. "Bodies could start to stack up from the coronavirus. Coroners and funeral homes say they're ready". USA TODAY. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
- ^ "UK local authorities not ready for the number of deaths from Covid-19: The situation could lead to a bottleneck in burials and cremations, mortuaries filled beyond capacity and the possibility of mass graves". ScienceDaily. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
- ^ Meaton, Julia; Kruger, Helen; Williams, Anna (25 March 2020). "Pandemic Continuity Planning: will coronavirus test local authority business continuity plans? A case study of a local authority in the north of England". Emergency Management Review. 4 (1): 4–27. ISSN 2049-5927.
- ^ "Mass graves possible with UK services set to be overwhelmed by coronavirus". Metro. 28 March 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
- ^ "New York City will bury unclaimed bodies on a remote island after 14 days because coronavirus deaths are overwhelming morgues". Business Insider. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
- ^ "Coronavirus: New York using mass graves amid outbreak". BBC News. 10 April 2020. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
- ^ "Com pandemia, mortes em Manaus estão 108% acima da média histórica". G1 (in Brazilian Portuguese). 5 May 2020. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
- ^ "'Utter disaster': Manaus fills mass graves as Covid-19 hits the Amazon". The Guardian. 30 April 2020. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
External links
[edit]Media related to Mass graves at Wikimedia Commons
- Mass Graves of the Indonesian Massacres of 1965–66
- Video on the exhumation of a mass grave of World War II German soldiers in Villeneuve-Loubet, southern France, in 2006
- Mass Graves of Iraq
- Article about the effects of mass graves after the 2003 Iran earthquake.
- General article about mass graves
- Exhumation of WWII era mass graves of German and Soviet soldiers in Stalingrad
- Petition for Justice to the Mass Graves of the Tamils in Sri Lanka
- Tampering evidences of the Mass Graves of the Tamils in Sri Lanka