3 days ago
The expected mass graves for many Medieval battles (such as Tours, Hastings, Bannockburn) have never been found. This is leading battlefield hunters to believe that many of the dead were somehow carted back to their homelands. An interesting aspect of Medieval battle is the "camp followers" (a sizeable group of cooks, laborers, healthcare workers, animal tenders, transporters, family, etc). They may have numbered a 1:1 ratio with soldiers, to accomplish the logistics of supporting a large army. Perhaps there was an industry that developed out of cleaning up after battle, salvaging equipment and hasty embalming/transport of bodies back to loved ones (either for a price, to fulfill a commander's promise, or for religious reasons).
