Abstract
Budeč mass grave represents one of the most extensive archaeological examples of large-scale violence dated to 10 th century in Europe. A mass grave near the hillfort holds mainly male burials showing numerous injuries sustained from sword blows.
The slaughtered men were perhaps mostly professional elite warriors. This massacre may be hypotheticaly connected with the violence following the death of Duke Wenceslas in AD 935.
This bloody event probably changed the settlement pattern of the Budeč stronghold and influenced local people and their funerary ritus. Bioarchaeological analyses of mass grave offers unique insights into the nature of early medieval society and warfare.
Conference paper will mainly focus on paleopathological analysis of skeletal injuries found on mass grave individuals, anthropological characteristics of local early medieval population and present future research aimed at life conditions, diet and population mobility based on stable isotope analyses.