Mass grave in 'city drowned in blood' linked to Mongol invasion

A mass grave found in Russia has been linked to the brutal 13th century Mongol invasion of Europe.

As many as nine mass graves were discovered when Yarsoslavl's Assumption Cathedral – built in the 13th century -  was demolished and rebuilt between 2004 and 2010.

More than 300 individuals who "died a violent death" were found in the 780-year-old burial sites at the location, new research claims.

The deaths came in 1238 after Yaroslavl was invaded by a Mongol army led by Batu Khan – the grandson of infamous warlord Genghis Khan.

"Batu Khan's conquest was the greatest national tragedy, surpassing any other event in cruelty and destruction," researchers explained.

"What we now know about those raids suggests that chronicle descriptions of 'a city drowned in blood' were not merely a figure of speech."

Using DNA testing, researchers from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and the Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of Archaeology have recently been able to uncover more information surrounding the deaths.

"In addition to recreating the overall picture of the fall of the city in 1238, we now see the tragedy of one family," researchers said.

"There were remains of genetically related individuals representing three generations. Anthropological data suggest these were a grandmother aged 55 or older, her daughter aged 30 to 40 and grandson, a young man of about 20.

"A fourth member of the family related through the female line was buried in the neighbouring mass grave."

Researchers believe many of the corpses had badly decomposed before they were buried, with their hypothesis based off blowfly species found on the bodies.

"These people were killed, and their bodies remained lying in the snow for a fairly long time. In April or May, flies started to multiply on the remains, and in late May or early June they were buried in a pit on the homestead, which is where they probably had lived," researchers explained.