17th century gallows with graves, ghosts and suicides

Excavations of a 17th-century gallows near Quedlinburg in central Germany have uncovered 16 separate graves, including a tomb of the dead and a rare coffin burial, as well as two bone pits containing mixed body parts and bones collected from previous burials.

From historical sources we know that there was a gallows on the site from 1662 onwards and that it was used for executions until 1809. Executed people were usually buried on Gallows Hill, as no one wanted to bother moving the bodies of criminals to bury them elsewhere. Archaeologists from the Saxony-Anhalt State Office for Monument Preservation and Archaeology (LDA) have been excavating the site for three seasons to learn more about the punishment and funeral customs of executed prisoners in modern times.

Some bones showed signs of sharp wounds, possibly inflicted during torture prior to execution. All but one of the bodies had been buried directly in the ground, and the position of the bodies indicated that their hands were still tied when they were unceremoniously dumped into the hole.

One of the bodies was that of a man with a large stone on his chest. This was most likely a funeral rite for a dead soul; the weight was placed on his body to prevent him from rising from his grave and harming the living. People who died suddenly or violently were considered dangerous because they could not be pardoned after death, and a man who was hanged by the neck for a crime must have been a formidable figure both in life and in death, with some great vengeance to settle. However, there was no evidence on his bones of how he had died. Hangings leave no visible marks.

The only burial that was not “thrown in the pit” was a person buried in a wooden coffin, which was rare in execution sites. The deceased was lying on his back with his hands crossed over his abdomen. Three amber beads found in the grave indicate that they were buried wearing rosary beads. The careful care of this body suggests that the deceased may have committed suicide rather than someone sentenced to hanging. Suicides were not allowed to be buried on sacred ground.

The two bone pits were first discovered in 2023 and will be further investigated this quarter. Body parts of people who had been tortured (perhaps broken or torn apart on the wheel) were thrown into the pits, still wrapped in bandages, along with dislocated bones collected by executioners and their assistants during their regular cleaning of Gallows Hill. The bones were piled in layers, one on top of the other. The bone pits also contain fragments of clothing, buttons, belt buckles and ceramics.