Archaeology Magazine - March/April 2011 - 30

When Tim Sutherland of the Towton Battleﬁeld Archaeology Project began digging at the site more than a decade ago, he expected to ﬁnd the usual artifacts of medieval warfare— arrowheads, horse ﬁttings, spurs, and graves. What he did not expect to ﬁnd was evidence of new developments in armament technology that would eventually change the way that subsequent battles and wars were fought. On what is believed to be the Lancastrian side of the battleﬁeld, Sutherland found the remains of two guns, the earliest ﬁrearms found on the site of a known battleﬁeld in Britain, and possibly Europe. Although we know from historical sources that guns were becoming popular on the battleﬁeld at this time, no examples this early have ever been found at the site of a recognized conﬂict. The Battle of Towton pitted the House of Lancaster under King Henry VI (left) against Edward of York, who would become King Edward IV (right). Sources also tell us the Lancastrians hired gunners from the Burgundy region of France, noise and lots of smoke, and probably intimidated people who were known to be up-to-date in their battle practices, to who had never seen one. But they also might have blown up ﬁght alongside them as mercenaries. But with only these two in a person’s face.” guns for evidence—and the possible remains of a third—it’s One of the main questions Sutherland wanted to answer hard to gauge the weapons’ eﬀectiveness on the battleﬁeld. was if the guns had actually been ﬁred during the battle. He “Although local bronze smiths knew how to cast bronze very sent the fragments—earlier microscopic analysis had already well—they made really good bells found just down the road established that they were from two diﬀerent guns—to that still ring—these guns are poor castings, ﬁlled with air Bruker AXS, a company specializing in high-tech scientiﬁc bubbles,” says Sutherland.“The guns would have made a huge

The Towton Mass Grave Project
or more than 10 years, researchers from the University of Bradford have been studying the Battle of Towton’s dead. Analysis of bones found in both single and mass graves has shown that Towton’s warriors were larger and more robust than other medieval populations. Evidence of healed injuries suggests that some of them may have participated in armed conﬂict from a young age. But on March 29, 1461, many suﬀered an extremely violent end, sustaining injuries far beyond that necessary to cause death, and suggesting perimortem— around the time of death—mutilation. The excessive violence of the injuries has lead researchers to challenge the traditional picture of medieval warfare. Rather than the commonly accepted view that it was chivalrous, the project’s directors believe that the skeletons may be early evidence of the brutality more often encountered in the civil wars of the modern era. The Towton Mass Grave Project is also challenging the received wisdom about another aspect of the battle. According to archaeologist Tim Sutherland, the generally accepted ﬁgure of 28,000 war dead from the single day’s conﬂict may be grossly exaggerated, and would represent approximately 10 times as many casualties as any other battle of In addition to weapons and artillery, excavators have the Wars of the Roses. Sutherland says that early uncovered the remains estimates based on the graves’ dimensions suggest of soldiers felled on the that they held several thousand, rather than tens of Towton battlefield, many of whom had sustained injuries thousands. “The main site of the mass graves on the Towton battleﬁeld has now been located and awaits from projectiles and handheld weapons. imminent excavation,” says Sutherland.
30 ARCHAEOLOGY • March/April 2011

Archaeology Magazine - March/April 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - March/April 2011