Theo the pipe smoker
Theo the pipe smoker (* around 1790 ; † around 1820 in Kleinbasel ) is the fictional name of a man whose skeleton was found in 1984 in a former poor cemetery near the Theodorskirche in Kleinbasel. It was named after the church in whose cemetery it was found.
Kleinbasel around 1800
Kleinbasel has been part of the city of Basel since the Middle Ages , but remained independent in many ways due to its location on the right bank of the Rhine . Medium-sized tradesmen lived here with their families and domestic workers. The census of 1799 showed a population of almost 3,000 people for the densely populated Kleinbasel, plus people who were not recorded such as travelers or day laborers . When Theo was born, the Mittlere Brücke was the only connection across the Rhine in the region; the Wettsteinbrücke was not built until 1879.
At that time, Kleinbasel's lifeline was the “ pond ”, a network of canals with water from the Wiese river for commercial use. It was used by sawmills, dyeing and fulling mills, by tanners and millers, for plaster mills, tobacco pounding and other things. In 1823 the pond drove a total of 64 wheels, 34 of which were flour mills. The canals were heavily polluted by the numerous sewage and faeces. The Kleinbasler pond was only filled in between 1907 and 1917. The "Teichgässlein" between Claragraben and Ochsengasse still reminds of him today.
On the southern and eastern side of Kleinbasel, which was not traversed by watercourses, many Kleinbasel residents lived from agriculture, as wine growers or shipmen.
Kleinbasel around 1795; right the Theodorskirche. Etching by Christian von Mechel (detail)
Kleinbasel at the beginning of the 19th century
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The cemetery
The former vineyard in the west of the Theodorskirche was acquired by council member Remigius Merian in 1779 and, after the last grape harvest, it was converted into the long-needed extension of the regular churchyard; the first funeral took place on October 5, 1779. The new cemetery was surrounded by a wall and was named "Merianscher Totenacker" after its former owner. Mainly members of the lower social class were buried in it. However, since its capacity was quickly exhausted, two more new areas were used as cemeteries in 1805 with the “Kleeacker” and in 1831 with the “Mättelein”, but these measures did not prove to be sustainable either. In 1832 a new cemetery was set up outside the city at Messeplatz for the rapidly growing population of Basel. The Meriansche Totenacker near the Theodorskirche was closed on May 1st, 1833.
In the 54 years a total of 4,334 people died in Kleinbasel. They were buried there in the various cemeteries, most of them in the small "Meriansche Totenacker". Residents of Kleinbasel were buried on it; Craftsmen, small tradesmen, carters, fishermen and their family members. All those buried were recorded in the death register of the St. Theodor parish with their first and last name, age and often also with profession and origin. The Theodorsschule, which was built in 1855/56, stands today on the site of the former Totenacker.
The location of the cemetery at the Theodorskirche, then still vineyards. Illustration from the plan by Matthäus Merian , 1615
Location plan :
1. Theodorskirche
2. All Saints Chapel
3. Pfarrhof
4. Kartausgasse
5. Theodorsgraben
6. Claragraben
7. Special
cemetery 8. “Kleeacker”
cemetery 9. “Mättelein” cemetery
10. “Merianscher Totenacker” with the grave of Theo
Area of the old Merianschen Totenackers. The excavations from 1984 are highlighted in color. Blue: sites from the younger phase, green: older phase, red: location of Theo's grave
The discovery
A heat pump heating system was to be installed in this schoolhouse in 1984 , which necessitated the construction of new lines. Since graves were to be expected in the area west of the Theodorskirche next to the schoolhouse, the excavation work was accompanied by Archaeological Soil Research Basel-Stadt. In the winter of 1984 the workers came across the remains of 24 graves in the western area of the former Merianschen Totenackers.
Theo was lying in the middle of a pile of six in grave 19 and had been buried stretched out on his back in a south-west-north-east position. There were hardly any traces left of a coffin. The skeleton was completely recovered, only the foot bones had to remain in the ground, as the pit wall could not be removed for static reasons. The neighboring graves 15, 17 and 22 were rotated by 90 degrees, facing northwest-southeast and tended to be less deep. Theo's grave was dated as later than this, but earlier than the similarly oriented grave 20 at his feet. This means that Theo was buried before the final stages of the cemetery. The fact that these graves of the older phase were partly higher than the graves of the younger phase may be due to the fact that the "Ordinance regarding the funeral" of February 25, 1814 required that those who died of "nerve fever" ( typhus ) in particular to bury deep-lying graves in order to prevent «toxic fumes» from rising. The archaeologists concluded from this that this change in the method of burial was possibly connected with the great typhus epidemic of 1814. The older graves were oriented northwest-southeast and were laid out rather shallowly, while the graves of the younger phase were oriented southwest-northeast and tended to be deeper in the ground.
Theo was apparently neither buried at the beginning of this more recent burial phase of 1814 nor the last one around 1833, but probably in the 1820s. A total of 24 skeletons were recovered, brought to the Natural History Museum in Basel and archived there in the collection.
The project
Identified historical skeletons are mostly from people of the social upper class. Their graves are often in churches and the circumstances of the burial are well documented. The project to identify Theo is an exception in that it was intended to identify a nameless person, a "nobody" from the lower class.
The research on Theos skeleton and his person was also the beginning of the extensive Citizens Research Basel (BBS), in which today (2019) around 70 volunteer scientific employees transcribe historical sources and edit data. The numerous documents in the Basel-Stadt State Archives from the 18th and 19th centuries in both written and pictorial form made the research much easier. The natural sciences and the humanities work together and complement one another, with genealogical research playing a key role. The project is managed by the anthropologist Gerhard Hotz, curator at the Natural History Museum Basel. Another citizen research project was, for example, research on Anna Catharina Bischoff .
First investigations
As part of an exercise by the Institute for Prehistoric and Scientific Archeology IPNA at the University of Basel , two students, the anthropologist Simon Kramis and the historian Fabian Link, examined the skeleton from grave 19 in 2004.They left two oval, almost circular gaps in the dentition of the young man who aroused the curiosity of the young researchers and led to further investigations of the skeleton. These revealed that the deceased was a man who had died between the ages of 28 and 32 years.
It is not known where Theo was born. A strontium isotope analysis of three of his molars showed that there was a high probability that he had lived in the Basel region until he was 14 years old. Studies of dental cement and bones showed that as a young man he had suffered at least two phases of stress and showed signs of the onset of osteoarthritis . He was rather small at 1.60 meters and had a balanced diet even while growing. This suggests that he was not one of the poorest. Analyzes of the arm and collarbones showed that Theo was very likely a right-handed craftsman.
Theo died too young; the life expectancy of a thirty-year-old in the 19th century was 49 years. In the years before his death he was healthy and well nourished: his skeleton did not show any serious illnesses or severe malnutrition. In addition to injuries to the soft tissues caused by violence, a possible cause of death is also an infectious disease with a rapid course that did not leave any traces on the skeleton.
teeth
Theo's teeth were strong from caries attacked or died. Apart from that, the oval gaps already mentioned on the left side of the dentition are noticeable, which, when the jaw is slightly open, have an almost circular cross-section. Investigations with the scanning electron microscope showed fine scratches on the tooth surface, which indicated a process of wear and tear through the ceramic mouthpiece of a clay pipe and caused by the fine quartz grains it contained.
Such abrasions occurred almost all over the world from the 17th to the 19th century, when clay pipes were widespread. Excavations in cemeteries with well-documented information about the deceased showed that excessive smoking of clay pipes, which could be smoked while working without the aid of hands, was more common among socially disadvantaged and hard-working sections of the population. Since the clay mouthpiece was harder than the tooth enamel , it grinded into the surrounding teeth over time. This exposed the softer dentin and increased the wear and tear process. Pipe holes appear after five to ten years of heavy smoking. As a result, Theo must have been a long-time smoker who belonged to the artisanal class of the population.
Clay pipe as Theo could have smoked
Master butcher Johannes David Bienz (1755–1829) with a lidded pipe; Watercolor by Wilhelm Oser, around 1820
Who was Theo?
On the small Merianschen Totenacker, which was in use from October 5, 1779 to May 1, 1833, there were neither gravestones, memorial plaques, nor a map, and nothing reminded of the dead who had been buried here. In the Basel-Stadt State Archives, however, the death register of the St. Theodor parish was found, in which the names, professions, age at death and place of birth of all those who died in Kleinbasel were listed. Information on the burial place, however, was missing; it was not stated whether a deceased found his final resting place in the church of St. Theodor, in the "Merianschen Totenacker" or in any of the other cemeteries in Kleinbasel.
Of the 4,334 people who died in Kleinbasel between October 5, 1779 and May 1, 1833, 2,069 were male. One of them had to be Theo. Since Theo's age could be determined to be around 30 years, all candidates who were younger than 26 and older than 34 were dropped, which reduced the group of candidates to 134. Another 16 men were found in a special register, the stone book, that they were buried in the Theodorskirche. These 16 came from the social upper class, as only these could afford a better burial place. 118 names remained. Since Theo belonged to the younger phase of burial and this was brought up by archaeologists in connection with the great typhus epidemic of 1814, all men who died before 1814 were removed from the list. 25 men remained. However, the connection with the typhus epidemic has not yet been proven. If this assumption turns out to be wrong, the search should focus on those who died before 1814.
Since Theo must have had his pipe in his mouth all the time during his work and smoking was prohibited in activities in the wood and textile industry, the likelihood that he had pursued such a profession had to be rather low. Theo's activity was more in the professions in which fine motor skills were required, such as rope maker, baker or tailor.
All information about Theo and his everyday life was recorded in a database. This took into account all candidates who could be considered Theo, and based on the information about Theo's profile, assigned each one a certain probability of being Theo. In 2008, the database still recorded twelve so-called top candidates, who had a probability of 96 percent of being identical to Theo.
In 2008/2009, the first attempt was made to isolate Theos DNA from the skeleton. It was possible to remove uncontaminated dentin from a molar and to isolate fragments of mitochondrial DNA from it. Mitochondrial DNA is inherited from mother to her children, but only daughters can pass it on to the next generation. To find out whether one of the twelve top candidates was Theo, descendants had to be found on the female line in order to compare their DNA with that of Theo. Genealogical genealogical research on the female line is demanding and time-consuming, since women took on the names of their husbands at every marriage.
The search for descendants
From the list of 12, the names of fifteen possible descendants of the top candidates could be determined through genealogical research. They were reported to the press on March 10, 2010, along with the list of twelve candidates, in the hope that living descendants would recognize relatives. TV, radio and print media also reported on the search. For reasons of the protection of descendants, care was taken to ensure that only the names of potential descendants were published who had died a hundred years ago; the protection of descendants comes into force for a period of 100 years when a person dies.
| Possible descendants | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surname | First name | Year of birth | Year of death | place |
| Brogli | Otto | 1887 | 1924 | Mulhouse |
| Surety | Adelheid | 1875 | ? | Frankfurt / Montreux |
| Catelli-Sacher | Emma | 1896 | 1972 | Sissach |
| Cavaignac-Spitteler | Bertha | 1874 | 1948 | Argentina |
| Erni | Albert | 1880 | 1955 | Rothenfluh |
| Erni | Maria | 1886 | 1964 | Rothenfluh |
| Sacher | Frieda | 1902 | 1979 | Gelterkinden |
| Sacher | pink | 1894 | 1965 | Gelterkinden |
| Herdsman | Heinrich | 1887 | 1949 | Basel |
| Herdsman | John | 1883 | 1960 | Basel |
| Spitteler | W. Eugene | 1866 | 1937 | Baraderos, Argentina |
| Spitteler-Zocu | W. Theophil | 1870 | 1927 | San Carlos, Argentina |
| Wirz | Adolf | 1907 | 1984 | Basel |
| Angry | Karl | 1906 | 1984 | Basel |
| Angry | Max | 1904 | 1985 | Basel |
In fact, twenty people volunteered, most of whom were descendants of the Theo candidates. But since they were descendants of the male line, they were not carriers of the mitochondrial DNA and no DNA comparison could be carried out. That is why the genealogical procedure was adapted: Now, based on the list of 12, descendants of the potential Theo candidates should be found through extensive genealogical family research. In many of the candidates, the family lines broke off and it was not possible to find descendants who were still alive. With one exception: Johannes Bieler. But the DNA comparison resulted in a negative decision and Bieler could be removed from the list of 12. Eleven candidates remained:
| eleven candidates | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ID no. | Surname | First name | Age | Year of birth | job |
| 1 | Bender | Christian Friedrich | 33 | 1784 | Master glazier |
| 2 | Itin | Achilles | 31 | 1786 | Father: city soldier |
| 3 | Kestenholz | Peter | 29 | 1789 | Pfannenflicker |
| 4th | Gessler | Johann Jakob | 32 | 1782 | Weissgerber |
| 5 | Merian | Johann | 30th | 1784 | Father: Seiler |
| 6th | Long | Niklaus | 28 | 1794 | Commercial commis |
| 7th | Schmid | Johann Jakob | 33 | 1782 | Millmaker |
| 8th | Kunz | Valentine | 33 | 1789 | Soap boiler |
| 9 | Perrot | Franz Georg | 26th | 1793 | Commercial commis |
| 10 | Homely | Friedrich | 31 | 1783 | Weissbaker |
| 11 | Hediger | Jacob | 27 | 1789 | Factory workers |
Sometimes tragic fates are hidden behind these names. The following information on the living conditions and the family situation of the first two candidates, who could have been Theo, is based on the research of the genealogists of Bürgerforschung Basel (BBS) Marina Zulauf, Ursula Fink, Diana Gysin and Beat Stadler, who were in the various Archives searched, on the other hand on genealogical and job-specific research. All results come from documents that are directly related to the two men.
Theo was most likely Christian Friedrich Bender or Achilles Itin. Since no descendants could be found in any of them via the female line, reliable identification has not yet been made. What the men have in common is that they had a “migration background”, that is, their families came to Basel from outside the city because they hoped for a better economic future in the city. Only Bender managed to build a professional existence. Two of the ten candidates died by suicide.
Christian Friedrich Bender (1783-1816)
Christian Friedrich Bender was born on December 23, 1783 in Bouxwiller in Lower Alsace . In October 1808 he was accepted into the Zunft zum Himmel as a glazier in Basel due to a settlement and business permit . When and why he came to Basel is not known. On September 30, 1806 he married Sara Bauler, the daughter of a well-off master tailor. The Benders lived in a narrow two-story house at Rheingasse 21. At the time of Bender's death, five of the couple's nine children were still alive.
On November 16, 1816, Bender took his own life at six in the morning by cutting his throat with a razor. The cut was made with great force and went down to the cervical vertebra. His wife Sara stated, “She wanted to rush to his aid; but he pushed her away by force, where he immediately made a second cut ». "Trial cuts", as they are often made in such suicides, were omitted.
On the same day, three official investigations took place, from the detailed descriptions of which in the logs much is known about an average family in the 19th century. According to Bender's wife, the reason for his act was "a mental illness" which she attributed to religious doubts and fears. It is also conceivable, however, that the woman put forward an illness so that her husband would receive an honest grave within the churchyard and not be buried outside the cemetery walls, as was customary at the time for suicides.
Today, however, there are several doubts about the circumstances of his death, some points to an outside influence. As the logs show, the crime scene was changed significantly after the fact. Why was the journeyman surgeon on the spot so quickly early in the morning? Why was the dead man with its help placed from the floor of the bedroom onto the bed in the next room? Bender is said to have killed himself standing - why were the sheets on the bed in the bedroom covered in blood? Many questions remain open. Due to the fact that the neck muscles on the right side were completely severed, but remained almost intact on the left side, it can be concluded that Bender made the cut from top right to bottom left, so he must have been left-handed. If it turns out that Theo was identical to Christian Friedrich Bender, then that could indicate that Bender was killed - Theo was right-handed.
Bender's height was measured when investigating his death. It was about 1.60 meters - exactly the size calculated for Theo. Theo's cervical spine has unfortunately not been preserved, otherwise any incisions that might have been present could have been detected.
The enterprising Sara Bender continued her husband's glazing business thanks to a special permit. In August 1818 she married the glazier Adam Uehlinger, had two more children, died on June 26, 1839 at the age of 55, and left behind a considerable fortune of almost 20,000 francs.
Achilles Itin (1786-1816)
Achilles Itin was born in Basel as the third of seven children. The theology professor Jakob Meyer and the master dyer and Grand Councilor Achilles Miville were entered as godparents in the baptismal register of the Theodorskirche on March 2, 1786 - perhaps a sign of charity towards the needy family.
The family probably sublet lived in poor conditions in two or three rooms in the district of the parish of St. Theodor in Kleinbasel. The father was a town soldier and had to support the family of nine with ten francs a month. The brother Hans Jakob Itin worked as a truck driver for the city. It is not known whether they were supported by the city.
Achilles is likely to have lived with the family as an unmarried son as well, together with the unmarried sisters. The eldest sister married the widower and silk weaver Isaac Roth in 1811. The three youngest of her seven children died as small children, the second son, Jacob Conrad Roth, drowned in the Rhine at the age of thirteen. Two of Achilles' sisters each gave birth to an illegitimate daughter. One of the girls was born deaf and speechless. She later gave birth to two illegitimate children, both of whom died shortly after giving birth. Three of the unmarried sisters died like their father in the poor hospital in Liestal.
Achilles Itin remained single and died at the age of 30 on November 14, 1816, a few months after his mother. Nothing is known about his occupation or the cause of death.
Plastic facial reconstruction
In 2001 the historian Fabian Link made a facial reconstruction of Theo under the guidance of the anthropologist and sculptor Gyula Skultéty . Link portrayed him as a man around 40 years old with wrinkles and a face marked by hard work. Later, more detailed investigations into Theo's age at death revealed that Theo died at the age of 30. With the new information, Gyula Skultéty designed Theo as a younger man. The reconstruction shows a plausible variant of Theo's appearance at the time of his death.
New genetic and genealogical research
Using newly developed methods, forensic genetics in Berlin 2015 succeeded in isolating fragments of Theos nuclear DNA from a bone sample. Here the search for descendants had to take place on the male line. In this way, a descendant of another man in question, Pfannenflicker Peter Kestenholz, was found in Liestal. But the analysis of his DNA showed that there was no relationship. Another candidate could be removed from the list with certain reservations; so there were ten left.
When researching the male line, there is the possibility of so-called cuckoo children who interrupt the paternal line with foreign DNA. A genetic comparison of descendants is then no longer possible. So if no relationship can be proven in a potential descendant of Theos, the candidate cannot be removed from the list of candidates with one hundred percent certainty. A second lead to the top candidate Achilles Itin leads to the USA. Contact is still pending; a first attempt failed.
To improve the opportunities to find Theos descendants, was in collaboration with the University of Potsdam (Institute of Biochemistry and Biology; Adaptive Evolutionary Genomics), YSEQ and Forensic Genetics Berlin a whole genome sequencing performed (Whole Genome Sequence) by Theo. The data obtained are uploaded to DNA databases such as GEDmatch , which compare approx. 1 million autosomal markers instead of the maternal and paternal lines . The most important statement so far has been determined that Theo belongs to the exact mitochondrial haplogroup U -3546A and the Y-chromosomal haplogroup R1b -S22194 with the other private mutations BY47236 T and BY126769 G.
If existing gene markers are now found to match those of Theo, the persons concerned would be written to. If these can be proven to have ancestors from Basel, this could lead to the determination of Theo's identity. So it is only a matter of time before the riddle about Theo can be solved.
Further applications of the process
- Such procedures are already successfully used in so-called cold case investigations . Serious crimes can lead to the identity of the murderer based on old DNA samples without prior knowledge.
- Sequencing of the genome from the cell nucleus DNA was also carried out by Ötzi .
literature
- Gerhard Hotz, Liselotte Meyer, Simon Kramis, Fabian Link, Denise Cueni: Theo the pipe smoker - from the life of a Kleinbasler around 1800 . In: Basler Stadtbuch 2007 , pp. 173–177.
- Gerhard Hotz et al .: Theo the pipe smoker , life in Kleinbasel around 1800; Natural History Museum Basel, Christoph Merian Verlag, Basel 2010
- Gerhard Hotz, Stefanie Doppler, Marie-Louise Gamma, Diana Gysin, Odette Haas, Guido Helmig, Ludwig Huber, Simon Kramis, Fotios Alexandros Karakostis, Liselotte Meyer, Geneviève Perréard Lopreno, Jürgen Rauber, Lutz Roewer, Jessica Rothe, Albert Spycher, Ursula Wittwer-Ofen and Marina Zulauf-Semmler (2017): Theo the pipe smoker - a genealogical and scientific identification project . Yearbook Swiss Society for Family Research, Vol. 44, 29–61.
Web links
- Citizen Research Basel
- Citizens' project researches Basel in the 19th century
- Archaeological soil research Basel-Stadt
- René Ammann , in Observer from March 28, 2018
- Guido Kleinhubbert: The "Theo" case - did his wife kill him? Spiegel Online, 52/2017
- Transcription team website
- “Theo, the pipe smoker” - project of the University of Basel
Individual evidence
- ↑ Basler-bauten.ch
- ↑ Philipp Senn in Theo the pipe smoker ; Christoph Merian Verlag, Basel 2010, p. 114 ff
- ^ Gerhard Hotz et al .: Theo the pipe smoker ; Christoph Merian Verlag, Basel 2010, p. 32 ff
- ↑ Citizens Research Basel
- ^ Gerhard Hotz et al .: Theo the pipe smoker ; Christoph Merian Verlag, Basel 2010, p. 45 ff
- ↑ Lukas M. Kofmehl, Georg Schulz, Hans Deyhle, Andreas Filippi, Gerhard Hotz, and Simon Kramis: Computed tomography to quantify tooth abrasion, Proceedings of SPIE 7804. 2010.
- ↑ Simon Kramis: Clay pipe smokers from Basel cemeteries. Anthropological and historical aspects of the "tobacco drink". Knasterkopf, trade journal for clay pipes and historical tobacco consumption, Volume 19, 2007, pages 41–44.
- ↑ Fotios Alexandros Karakostis, Gerhard Hotz, Joachim Wahl, Heike Scherf & Katerina Harvati. Occupational manual activity is reflected on the patterns among hand entheses. American Journal of Physical Anthropology; 2017
- ↑ Fotios Alexandros Karakostis, Gerhard Hotz, Joachim Wahl, Heike Scherf & Katerina Harvati. A repeatable geometric morphometric approach to the analysis of hand entheseal three-dimensional form. American Journal of Physical Anthropology; 2018
- ↑ Bzbasel.ch
- ↑ NZZ March 12, 2010
- ^ Genealogical-Heraldic Society of the Basel region
- ^ Genealogical-Heraldic Society of the Basel region
- ↑ history.unibas.ch
- ↑ Gerhard Hotz et al .: Theo the pipe smoker - a genealogical and scientific identification project . Yearbook of the Swiss Society for Family Research, Vol. 44, 51f.
- ↑ Jessica Rothe: Institute for Forensic Medicine, Charité Berlin: Report on whole genome sequencing by Theo, November 8, 2019
- ↑ Interview with Dr. Eduard Egarter-Vigl , from: "Ötzi, an archaeological thriller" by Christine Sprachmann; First broadcast 3sat , August 10, 2011
- ↑ merianverlag.ch
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Theo the pipe smoker |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | fictional name of a man whose skeleton was found in a former poor cemetery in 1984 |
| DATE OF BIRTH | around 1790 |
| DATE OF DEATH | around 1820 |
| Place of death | Kleinbasel |