Photo Gallery Unearthing Execution Sites
A wheel and gallows stand outside the town of Nienburg. The idea was to dissuade would-be thieves making their way into the town.
This round building makes up part of a gallows in Burglengenfeld, southern Germany. Corpses were left to decay here after their executions.
This foundation of a gallows was discovered by archaeologists in 1987 in Emmenbrücke, Switzerland.
This drawing from 1652 shows a three-post gallow and wheel outside Falkenburg.
These skeletons were found under the gallows in Emmenbrücke, Switzerland.
A three-post stone gallows in Wallis, Switzerland.
A female skeleton was found in a grave under a gallows in Ellwangen in southern Germany.
The skull of a women found in Langenfeld, western Germany. An enormous iron nail was stuck lengthwise through her head.
As one neared a medieval city, often the first thing visible was the gallows. The scavengers circling above are ready for their meal.
