The collective grave revealed a tragedy after the shipwreck of 400 years ago

The newly discovered burial site on Beacon Island could provide valuable information about what happened after the sinking of Batavia.

Archaeologists found a remains of five passengers on the Batavia train in Western Australia's Beacon Island, National Geographic reported on December 7. Batavia is the Dutch ship of the East India Company, wrecked in the first voyage from the Netherlands to Java Island in 1629.

5 remains were buried neatly in rows and there were no signs of violence. This shows that they may die at the time of the shipwreck, before the devastating massacre occurred among the survivors.

Archaeologists have found many traces of violence in the tombs found earlier. Among them was a skeleton that lost the upper part of the skull due to the sword cut. The body was later dragged to the final burial place.

The tragedy occurred when the Batavia ship crashed into the Morning Reef stone near Beacon Island in June 1629. When the ship began to sink, most of the survivors promptly swam onto the island. Francisco Pelsaert, commander of the ship, also flocked to a small island nearby.

Seeing these are just barren desert islands, Pelsaert led some people to Batavia, or Jakarta, Indonesia today, to seek help, food and water. They left 282 people on the island. However, a terrible tragedy occurred in the three months he was absent.

Batavia wrecks right on the first journey.(Photo: National Geographic).

A businessman named Jeronimus Cornelisz started rebelling in power. Cornelisz planned to take over the ship before but before it could happen, the sinking happened. He and his accomplices forced anyone who could oppose him to go to other islands to find drinking water.

Starting with those who are weak or injured, Cornelisz's rebel group carries out slaughtering the survivors without holding back. Even women and children do not escape the massacre. Cornelisz even retained some women to force and torture.

This brutality only ended when some of the men Cornelisz sent to other islands conquered Cornelisz. When Pelsaert returned, Cornelisz and many of his men were executed.

A total of 115 people died after the shipwreck, many of them brutally murdered.Beacon Island is now named "Graveyard of Batavia". Some media also call this place "Murder Island".

"What a bizarre story? I never read anything so bad , " said Jeremy Green, an archaeologist at the Western Australian Museum who studies the Batavia tragedy for more than 40 years.

The rebels caused a massacre on Beacon Island after the shipwreck.(Photo: National Geographic).

The newly excavated tomb on Beacon Island has great scientific value. Because Pelsaert published his notes after the incident, archaeologists can compare new findings with this detailed record.

The discovery of the Batavia wreck in 1963 promoted Western Australia through laws protecting underwater archaeological relics, Green said. Researchers also found some remains on Beacon Island. However, it was not until two decades later that they discovered more victims in the massacre.

In the late 1980s, fishermen on Beacon Island happened to see human bones while digging water pipes in the bathroom. In 1994, archaeologists began excavating the area. They found remains of three adults, a teenager, a child and a newborn.

Archaeologists continue to search for other graves for years to come. "For the past three years, all 10 people have been found in the Beacon Island center in our research project and brought a lot of valuable new information , " said Professor Daniel Franklin from the University of Western Australia. know.

5 remains in the new mass grave were discovered.(Photo: National Geographic).

Liesbeth Smits, an anthropologist at the University of Amsterdam, intends to analyze the exact composition of newly discovered remains to find the main food and their homeland.

Previously, thanks to these techniques, she discovered that the Batavia ships docked at the Dutch port but many passengers came from Scandinavia, Britain, France or Germany. The reason is that in the 1620s, Europe was sinking in the war, the Netherlands was also fighting against Spain to gain independence. Therefore, setting foot on Batavia becomes an escape.

The study of these ill-fated passengers is still ongoing. Green said the team will publish papers analyzing new findings next year, revealing more information about the tragedy that occurred nearly four centuries ago.