A bioarchaeological investigation of a multiple burial associated with the Batavia mutiny of 1629

Abstract

On 29 October 1628, the VOC Retourschip Batavia embarked on a voyage into infamy. Originally sailing as part of a fleet of six other ships, the BAtavia was subsequently separated, and, wrecked on Morning Reef in the Houtman Abrolhos on 4 June 1629. The ship's Commander, Francisco Pelsaert, had surbivors landed on nearby Beacon Island, and the embarked on a rescue voyage to BAtavia (modern day Jakarta). During Pelsaert's absence, an ultimately unsuccessful mutiny attempt result in the murder of at least 125 people. human skeletal material has been recovered from excavations of the Batavia land sites since teh 1960s. Four individual burials were discovered between 1960 and 1964. A further six individuals interred and evidence of trauma are analysied and compared for any similarity to individuals listed, and events outlined and historically recorded. The results of this analysis sugggest that four of the interred are probably the sick individuals who were the burial, at least one of which can also be directly accounted for.