Placas de identificación de combatientes de la Guerra Civil española (1936-1937), recuperadas en exhumaciones de escenarios bélicos en el País Vasco

Abstract

At the end of the 19th century, concern about the identity of soldiers injured or killed in battle motivated the creation of an identification system with metal discs that hung from the neck or were worn around the wrist. It was the soldiers themselves who were afraid of dying without an identity. Personal identification plates have had a long tradition in all armies, although their use spread in the 20th century as a result of the First World War. Their use is currently regulated by specific provisions that follow the same original idea. The implementation of the systematic exhumation of soldiers' mass-graves by professional archaeologists has allowed the recovery of some of these objects, which are of great importance to ascertain the historical facts and permit an identification of the cases, which is very useful from a forensic perspective. The use of these discs meant that the bodies in the battlefield could be identified and also that the fact could be recorded in a reliable way. These same discs are currently used to establish the identity of individuals recovered in exhumations of human remains from the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). These exhumations have been performed according to scientific method. We present several examples of identification discs which have been recovered in these exhumations, and which have facilitated the identification of the soldiers buried in them.