Battle of Visby - Archaeological Excavation

Archaeological Excavation

Graves have been excavated in modern times to bring clarification in the events. It showed that at least a third of the Gotlandian army consisted of minors and elderly. Many of the dead defenders were unusually buried in their armour; because supposedly, according to historian John Keegan "...hot weather and their great number (about 2,000 bodies were disinterred six hundred years later) defeated the efforts of the victors to strip them before decomposition began." The site of the excavation "yielded one of the most fearsome revelations of a medieval battle known to archaeologists."

Five mass-graves were located outside the city's walls.