A pump chamber is to be installed in this area of the historic market square, which is registered as a monument. An archaeological excavation was therefore necessary in the run-up to the construction work. The ongoing investigations should now clarify whether a »walking horizon« of the floor has been preserved. Possible find material from the construction period of the cellar promises to secure the high medieval dating – the large number of ceramic finds sometimes allows a very narrow chronological classification of the findings. A filling layer mixed with burning rubble in the area of the cellar can be assigned to the 13th century due to numerous fragments of the so-called »almost stoneware«.
»In addition to ceramics from the various epochs, we were able to salvage a non-ferrous metal coin and a bone comb. This probably belongs to the 12th or 13th century. We also found two iron knife blades,” explains excavation manager Thies Evers. The medieval terrain relief, which at that time fell sharply to the north, is no longer recognizable today. Here the experts assume that the space will be filled in and leveled after the basement has been given up.
»The oldest medieval finds even go back to the suburban period. In the area of a ditch or a larger pit, ceramics from the period between 1050 and 1150 were recovered,” explains Dr. Andreas Wunschel from the LWL Archeology for Westphalia.
Already at the beginning of the excavations in March 2023, a large well and a surface fortification, probably from the 16th/17th century discovered. The excavation company also penetrated into layers of soil from the High Middle Ages – among other things, they provide evidence of a large city fire shortly after 1200, in which 70 houses burned down.
»The market square is a registered archaeological monument in the center of the medieval town of Brakel with traces of settlement from before the founding of the town. This shows once again what treasures are slumbering beneath our city«
Mayor Herman Temme
In the past decades, archaeological investigations have been carried out several times in the area of the Brakeler market square and the surrounding plots.