Execution site
Definition
The location where killings took place, distinct from the burial site in cases where bodies were transported for concealment. The spatial gap between the two narrows the range of perpetrators who required access.
Related terms
- Mechanical digging signature
- The characteristic shape, size, and wall profile left by excavation machinery rather than manual digging. Bucket-tooth marks, stepped profiles, and oversize dimensions...
- Primary grave
- The original burial site, typically close to the location of death. Bodies are deposited in anatomical order with minimal post-depositional disturbance of...
- Secondary grave
- A grave formed when remains from a primary site are mechanically excavated and reburied elsewhere. Identified by truncated skeletons at the primary...
- Tertiary grave
- A burial produced by a second relocation of remains already in a secondary grave. Rare, but documented at Srebrenica; the skeletal inventory...
- Truncation
- The cutting of a grave margin by heavy machinery during disturbance. Truncation leaves long bones severed mid-shaft at the grave edge and...
Explained in
- Mass Grave Typology and FormationThe location where killings took place, distinct from the burial site in cases where bodies were transported for concealment. The spatial gap between the two n...