Children's grave from Helfta

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The children's grave in Helfta is an approximately 1000 year old grand children's grave in a stone sarcophagus . The burial of the four to five year old child was discovered in 2021 during excavations in Helfta , a district of Lutherstadt Eisleben in Saxony-Anhalt .

description

The grave was inside the Radegundis Church . It was built before 968 and was located on the site of of I. Otto used Königspfalz Helfta . The church was demolished after the Reformation and rediscovered around 2009. During excavations in 2021, the grave was found at a depth of 1.7 meters near the altar .

The stone sarcophagus is 1.25 meters long and 30 to 45 cm wide. It consists of processed white shell limestone . The outline of the body has been carefully carved out of the stone as a cavity, and in the area of ​​the head as a curve. The grave is called a niche grave because of the carved area for the head. The child's skeleton has been completely preserved. It is currently (as of July 2021) not known whether it was male or female. Archaeologists believe the child was four to five years old. A DNA analysis is planned. Fragments of a tablet made of lead were found in the sarcophagus .

The discovery was made during a research excavation carried out by the State Office for the Preservation of Monuments and Archeology in Saxony-Anhalt on the grounds of the Royal Palatinate. Over 60 graves have so far been discovered in the area of ​​the Radegundis Church. According to the archaeologist Felix Biermann , who led the excavations, the buried child came from elite circles and possibly from one of the Ottonian families .

Web links

Coordinates: 51 ° 30 ′ 18.4 ″  N , 11 ° 34 ′ 0.3 ″  E

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jörg Müller: The remains of a great man are of particular interest to the archaeologists in Helfta in the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung of June 23, 2021