London:
The intact remains of a young British soldier have been discovered at Waterloo, almost 200 years after Prussian and English troops defeated Napoleon.
The bones of the soldier, believed to have died on June 18, 1815, were found buried 15 inches below thick mud in the battlefield, Daily Mail reported.
The skeleton of the young trooper, who is likely to be from one of the Duke of Wellington's regiments, was unearthed lying on his back with the musket ball that killed him still between his ribs in the Belgian battlefield.
Archaeologists hope his possessions, including coins, a spoon, a leather strap and a piece of wood - possibly a rifle butt carved with the initials CB - might help them identify the skeleton.
"You can almost see him dying," Belgian archaeologist Dominique Bosquet said of the "intact" skeleton who is believed to have been buried hurriedly by his comrades during the heat of the battle.
"There is the strong probability that it is an Englishman, although this is not a certainty at present," specialist Waterloo historian Yves Vander Cruysen said.
The remains were discovered as bulldozers dug the site for a car park near Lion Mound monument.
In 1815, Napoleon led his 72,000-strong army into battle with 120,000 Allied soldiers on the gently rolling plateau of Waterloo in Belgium. The Allied army was a coalition of British, Dutch, German, Belgian and Prussian soldiers.
The two sides remained in a bloody embrace for several hours that resulted in the slaughter of 9,500 men.
The French emperor's Great Army was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo by the Duke of Wellington and Field Marshal Blucher, commander of the Prussian army.
The bones of the soldier, believed to have died on June 18, 1815, were found buried 15 inches below thick mud in the battlefield, Daily Mail reported.
The skeleton of the young trooper, who is likely to be from one of the Duke of Wellington's regiments, was unearthed lying on his back with the musket ball that killed him still between his ribs in the Belgian battlefield.
Archaeologists hope his possessions, including coins, a spoon, a leather strap and a piece of wood - possibly a rifle butt carved with the initials CB - might help them identify the skeleton.
"You can almost see him dying," Belgian archaeologist Dominique Bosquet said of the "intact" skeleton who is believed to have been buried hurriedly by his comrades during the heat of the battle.
"There is the strong probability that it is an Englishman, although this is not a certainty at present," specialist Waterloo historian Yves Vander Cruysen said.
The remains were discovered as bulldozers dug the site for a car park near Lion Mound monument.
In 1815, Napoleon led his 72,000-strong army into battle with 120,000 Allied soldiers on the gently rolling plateau of Waterloo in Belgium. The Allied army was a coalition of British, Dutch, German, Belgian and Prussian soldiers.
The two sides remained in a bloody embrace for several hours that resulted in the slaughter of 9,500 men.
The French emperor's Great Army was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo by the Duke of Wellington and Field Marshal Blucher, commander of the Prussian army.
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