First mass grave exhumations in Malaga town reveal more victims and high percentage of females

The exhumation work in the municipal cemetery of Campillos in the north of Malaga province is progressing at a good pace and is beginning to yield relevant data on the magnitude of the repression suffered in this town during the Civil War. After the first five weeks of work, the technical team leading the intervention has recovered the remains of 17 victims executed in the municipality. This data not only confirms the existence of the grave, located just over a year ago, but also suggests that the final number of people buried could far exceed initial estimates.

Initially, estimates placed the total number of victims in the grave at around 120, but these recent discoveries indicate that this figure will be exceeded. According to the experts, the way in which the bodies were buried and the signs found confirm the initial evidence that these people were killed in a violent manner, in the repressive context of the Civil War.

One of the most striking aspects revealed by the exhumations carried out so far is the high percentage of women among the victims. Of the 17 bodies recovered, three were women, which represents approximately 20% of the total. This circumstance, which was already intuited in the initial forecasts, confirms that the repression carried out in Campillos affected women in a much higher percentage than usual, which gives these findings a notable historical value.

In addition to the remains of victims of the Civil War, the team has located and exhumed the bodies of seven people who died in the years after the conflict, specifically between 1940 and 1942. They were buried in coffins just above this first excavated grave. The presence of these burials has posed an additional challenge, as such excavations require extreme precautions to ensure the integrity of the remains and the correct identification of each individual.

Mayor of Campillos Daniel Gómez and the professors from the University of Malaga who are coordinating the project - María José Berlanga and Encarnación Barranquero - recently visited the municipal cemetery and were able to see the complexity of the work and the academic interest it has aroused among the university students, who have participated to gain experience in forensic archaeology and archaeological research.

The state project, in which the University of Malaga is collaborating with the regional government of Andalucía, has a budget of approximately 30,000 euros. Intervention in the second mass grave is planned for 2026.