Over 100 bodies found in 'unique' discovery underneath football stadium that could date back to the 1st-century

The eerie remains of over 100 bodies were found underneath a football stadium, possibly dating back to the first or second century A.D.

Construction workers were renovating the sports field belonging to the Ostbahn-XI-Platz stadium in Vienna, Austria, in October 2024.

Following the shocking discovery in Simmering, scientists analysed the remains in collaboration with an archaeological service provider, and the results were presented in the Vienna Museum at the start of the month (2 April).

Kristina Adler-Wölfl, head of urban archaeology, said via translated text that 'skeletons from this period are therefore extremely rare', and that the individuals were buried without any recognisable order or orientation.

Remains of over 100 bodies were found beneath a football field in Vienna, Austria (A. Slonek/Novetus)

After careful evaluation, it was hypothesised that that the skeletal finds were from the Roman Empire, which was present in the area until the third century A.D.

Around 150 individuals, mostly male, were buried underneath the stadium.

It is thought that the buried were largely between 20 and 30 years, over 1.7m tall (five feet, seven inches), with few indications of infectious diseases. Weirdly, they had very good dental health.

Construction workers were renovating the sports field belonging to the Ostbahn-XI-Platz stadium in Vienna, Austria in October 2024 (A. Slonek/Novetus)

"From the arrangement of the skeletons and since they are purely male remains, it can be ruled out that the location is connected with a hospital or the like or that an epidemic was the cause of death," said Michaela Binder, a senior anthropologist at Novetus GmbH.

"The injuries to the bones are clearly due to hostilities."

Also in the grave were a dagger, armour, a cheek flap of a helmet, spear tips and shoe-nails.

This meant that the people who died were quite possibly at the end of a military operation.

Veronica Kaup-Hasler, Vienna's leading city councillor for culture and science, added: "In Vienna, you are always prepared to meet Roman traces as soon as you open pavements or soil.

"Finally, Vindobona laid the foundation stone of our city."

The results were presented in the Vienna Museum at the start of the month (A. Slonek/Novetus)

She said: "Thanks to numerous archaeological excavations in the area of today's Vienna, one already has a great deal of knowledge, and yet finds always lead to new and surprising findings.

"Thus, the great team of the Vienna City Archaeology is able to trace the history of this city more and more finely.

"A real sensation in this respect is the discovery of a Roman mass grave in Simmering.

"This unique testimony allows us to look at the beginnings of our city's history from a different perspective and once again illustrates how meaningfully expiring, preserving and researching in public museums is intertwined."