The graves were found during excavations of the Holy Spirit complex, a medieval site between the Monastery Gate and the Racławice Barracks in Toruń.
Researchers from Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń said radiocarbon dating places the burials in the first half of the 15th century, and they believe the dead were buried after the destruction brought by the 1414 conflict.
Ryszard Kaźmierczak of the university's Department of Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, who has led the excavation, said the graves had been dug into a layer of rubble containing large amounts of broken roof tiles.
He said the team has connected that destruction with the so-called Hunger War of 1414, when areas outside Toruń, including the Chełmno Suburb and likely the riverside port where the site is located, were devastated.
The latest stage of the dig uncovered another seven or eight skeletons. Earlier excavations at the same level had already revealed other burials from the same period. After the remains were secured and examined by anthropologists, researchers developed the theory that this cemetery was linked to the 1414 wartime destruction.
Kaźmierczak said the graves show the normal layout of a cemetery beside the Church of the Holy Spirit, but the conditions at the time of their being cut must have been difficult. He said there were no coffins, the skeletons were tightly curled, unevenly placed, and pressed into burial pits that were too small because digging through rubble was a challenge.
He added that the dead were buried wherever space could be found in the cemetery at the time.
The discovery adds to a broader investigation of the Holy Spirit complex, which includes a 13th-century church and hospital, as well as a Benedictine convent built in the early 14th century. Historians believe the church may be the oldest in Toruń.
Last autumn, archaeologists uncovered remains dating from the late 13th or early 14th century that they identify as part of the hospital.
Work resumed a few days ago and is intended to reveal the spatial layout of the surviving hospital walls and show what may still be preserved farther north, where the excavation area is to be expanded.
The next stage of the project will focus on searching for the presbytery of the 13th-century Church of the Holy Spirit.
In church architecture, the presbytery is the area around the main altar, often reserved for clergy and prominent burials. Researchers believe that medieval crypts belonging to high-ranking figures may still be found there.
The team has also received permission to remove part of the fence of the former section of the 19th-century municipal gasworks near the Monastery Gate, clearing access to a crucial section of the site.
Kaźmierczak said the first spring trenches already show that the archaeological remains continue beyond the fence.
He added that the findings seem to strongly contradict earlier claims that the area had been destroyed by German construction of the gasworks. Instead, he said, the walls continue into that section, showing the site has survived.
The Hunger War was a short conflict fought in the summer of 1414 between the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania on one side, and the Teutonic Order on the other. It formed part of a longer struggle over territory in the region.
The campaign by Polish and Lithuanian forces brought widespread destruction to settlements and crops, leading to famine that mainly affected civilians in the Teutonic state.
The war ended without a decisive result, and a two-year truce was agreed in Brodnica in October 1414.
(rt)
Source: dzieje.pl