The Mont-Saint-Jean farm was at the time of the battle, in 1815, the main hospital for the Allied troops, led by the Duke of Wellington. Already in 2019, the remains of three amputated legs were discovered there. The search campaign was then interrupted due to the coronavirus crisis.
The excavations were able to resume this year and a human skeleton and bones of horses or mules were found, along an orchard adjoining the farm, which has now become the Waterloo brewery.
“It’s the reality of war that we see here,” says Tony Pollard, a professor at the University of Glasgow and one of the project’s archaeological directors. “The management of the wounded in this fight which made more than 10,000 was a huge challenge. There was no great ritual or mark of respect. The unearthed grave makes it possible to understand that the bodies were simply laid out here,” he adds.
“Archaeology comes to provide material evidence. It makes it possible to objectify or revisit the data that historians have been able to compile”, comments Dominique Bosquet, archaeologist at the Walloon Heritage Agency (Awap).
In 2015, Awap began a collaborative project with the Waterloo Uncovered team, bringing together archaeologists, archeology students, soldiers and veterans. The association uses archeology as a tool to help soldiers recover from war trauma. “This makes it possible to begin a return to civilian life”, continues Mr. Bosquet. Twenty veterans took part in the excavation campaign ending Friday. This initiative is repeated every year in Waterloo and extends over two weeks.
Anthony Martin, head of the Waterloo brewery, has been working with Waterloo Uncovered since 2016. All discoveries should enrich the collection of the medical museum that the entrepreneur has set up in one of the wings of the majestic Brabant farmhouse.
In addition to Mont-Saint-Jean, excavations were carried out this year at Plancenoit where particularly bloody battles took place. A hundred musket balls in particular were found.