Mallorca cemetery yields two Civil War victims

Excavators uncover the remains of at least two Civil War victims at the municipal cemetery of Son Servera, Mallorca. The find comes as work resumes this week under the fifth graves-search plan. Officials believe the men died in fighting near the town during the Battle of Mallorca.

Fired rifle ammunition, a 7-millimetre projectile, two military medical corps badges and scraps of uniform lay with the bones. These objects led the Balearic Government to identify the dead as Civil War victims.

Uniform, medal and unanswered questions

The two burials are not a conventional mass grave, technician Cesc Busquets said. One man was fully dressed as a military medic and wore a medal; a lighter and a standard-issue cartridge case were also found in the side pocket of one of the dead men’s trousers.

Busquets believes both men were aged between 40 and 50 and may have been established career soldiers who reached Mallorca with Captain Bayo’s expedition. Their military jackets and, in one case, the two medical badges suggest they held some standing.

There are no bullet wounds visible on the bones so far. But the team cannot rule out a fatal injury to soft tissue. Busquets said they may have died in a Guardia Negra ambush, in Battle of Mallorca fighting, or after failing to escape the island.

Old cemetery plans point the way

Earlier digging between April and May found 40 neatly aligned individual graves in coffins near the entrance. Most held older people and date mainly from the 1940s onwards, so the team ruled them out as Battle of Mallorca victims.

Historic plans from the Son Servera Municipal Archive then directed the search to the cemetery’s upper terrace, its oldest area. There, archaeologists recorded at least 65 burials in the eastern sector, 63 in the western sector and 13 in the central planted area. Some bodies lay in unusual positions or without a coffin, setting them apart from ordinary burials.

Several graves run partly beneath the pavement around the planted areas. Workers must remove part of it before they can reach the remains and continue the excavation.

The next stage is to recover and study the dead, then identify them where possible and return them to their families. Xesca Ramis, the Balearic Government’s director general for institutional and parliamentary relations, expects the Son Servera work, along with remaining operations in Artà and Palmanyola, to finish before the end of the year.

Topics: Health · Culture · Politics · Son Servera · Palma · Artà · Bunyola

Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com