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Archaeology
Bringing up the bodies
Mass graves in France have been linked to the Siege of Rennes in 1491
Donna Lu
REMAINS buried in two mass
graves in the same cemetery in
France have been identified as
medieval soldiers belonging to
opposing armies.
Rozenn Colleter at the French
National Institute for Preventive
Archaeological Research and her
colleagues have identified the
skeletons as belonging to soldiers
who fought in the Siege of Rennes
in 1491. The skeletons were found
buried in a cemetery outside the
Jacobin Convent in Rennes.
The researchers identified
the skeletons by combining
historical information with
archaeological techniques,
including genetic analysis. They
found that each skeleton was male
and older than 15, with traumatic
injuries including unhealed
wounds to the skulls and upper
limbs. This pointed to a burial
of soldiers.
Radiocarbon dating placed
the graves somewhere between
the middle of the 15th century
and the end of the 16th century.
COLLETER ET AL.
The team believes they contain
opposing soldiers from the Siege
of Rennes, a major event in the
Astronomy
Alien rocks regularly
whip through the
solar system
AN AVERAGE of seven interstellar
objects pass by the sun every year,
potentially close enough for us to
observe and even visit, according
to a new analysis. Some of these
could even be from another galaxy.
To date, two objects from other
planetary systems have been found
in our solar system: ‘Oumuamua
in 2017 and the comet Borisov in
2019. We know these objects are
interstellar in origin because they
14 | New Scientist | 20 March 2021
French-Breton war, which was
triggered by a succession dispute.
The war ended with several
treaties, and the Breton duchess
Anne of Brittany married King
Charles VIII of France in 1491, a
crucial step towards the formation
of the modern state of France.
“It’s a really nice use of the
archaeological techniques to shine
a light on a historic event,” says
Rachel Wood at the Australian
A large grave in Rennes
probably contains soldiers
from the French Royal army
are moving faster than the escape
velocity of our solar system.
Stars like our sun are expected
to eject trillions of such objects from
their star system in their lifetimes.
Astronomer Marshall Eubanks
at the company Space Initiatives
and his colleagues used data on
the motion and velocity of nearby
stars from the Gaia telescope of the
European Space Agency (ESA) to
estimate how many of them might
end up in our neighbourhood.
They found that an average of
6.9 interstellar objects around the
size of ‘Oumuamua – at least 100
metres across – should pass within
National University in Canberra,
who wasn’t involved in the study.
Using stable isotope analysis of
teeth and bones, the researchers
were able to determine where the
soldiers probably spent their
childhood and last years of life.
Carbon and nitrogen isotopes
shed clues on people’s diet, such
as whether they were eating
marine or terrestrial foods, says
Wood, while strontium isotopes
indicate the underlying geology
of a region.
Oxygen isotopes can reveal the
type of water people drank, which
1 astronomical unit (the Earth-sun
distance) of the sun every year.
The researchers estimated this by
calculating the expected velocities
of interstellar visitors and working
out how long they should remain in
our solar system. They found that
the large majority should travel up
to 100 kilometres per second,
indicating they originate from
the main plane of the Milky Way.
But a small portion – 0.03 per
“A small portion of
interstellar objects – three
per century – could come
from outside our galaxy”
differs depending on precipitation
levels. And one kind of sulphur
isotope varies with distance
inland. “The ocean has got a
particular sulphur isotope
concentration, and so if you’re
by the coast, there’s kind of a sea
spray effect,” says Wood.
Oxygen, strontium and sulphur
isotopes from the soldiers in the
smaller grave, which contained
four skeletons, suggested that they
probably grew up in Brittany or
returned to the region within the
last few years of their life, making
it likely they were soldiers allied
to Anne of Brittany. In the larger
grave, which contained at least
28 skeletons, analysis pointed to
origins in the French kingdom,
suggesting they were members
of the French Royal army (bioRxiv,
doi.org/f2m4).
Despite being from opposing
armies, the two graves were in
close proximity to each other. The
researchers note the presence of a
rosary and three sets of pearls,
pointing to a more careful burial,
potentially by Dominican friars,
than was afforded to many
soldiers during war at the time. ❚
cent, or three objects per century –
could have velocities of more
than 530 kilometres per
second, meaning they originated
from outside our galaxy’s disc,
perhaps even from another galaxy
(arxiv.org/abs/2103.03289).
Some of these interstellar objects
could be potential targets for remote
observations or even visits by future
spacecraft, like ESA’s Comet
Interceptor mission. “We will never
in our children’s, children’s, children’s
lifetimes send a probe to another
galaxy,” says Eubanks. “In this case,
it might just fall into our lap.”  ❚
Jonathan O’Callaghan