“We knew that grave finds were to be expected in the area, as the brisk building activities since the 1970s have repeatedly made corresponding finds in the area. The only question was whether there were still graves underneath the asphalt or whether they had already been destroyed,” says Sebastian Düvel, scientific officer at the Bielefeld branch.
During the archaeological investigations, the excavation team quickly found what they were looking for: “We have so far discovered the remains of two urns and 25 cremation pit graves on the construction site,” says excavation manager Dr. Eva Manz. Based on the type of burial, the experts date the urn finds with some probability to the late Bronze to Middle Iron Age (1200 – 400 BC). Cremation pit graves, in which the charred remains of the funeral pyre are found in addition to the cremation, were found in East Westphalia from the 3rd century BC. and can still occur here up to the 6th century AD. For this reason, archaeologists have only been able to roughly classify them between the late Iron Age and the early Middle Ages.
“How old the individual graves are exactly will be revealed to us later when we look through the find material and determine the scientific age using radiocarbon dating,” says Manz about how to proceed once the excavations are complete.
Together with the earlier finds, the current discoveries show that there was a large burial area with numerous urns and other cremation graves in the area of the schools, where people buried their dead at different times.
“Decades ago, only a few of the burial places could only be secured in emergency salvage operations,” says Düvel. “It is now all the more important to carefully excavate and document the last remaining graves before they are destroyed. In this way, new insights into the history of the grave site and its position in the archaeologically very important region can also be gained in the future.”
“Due to the good coordination of all those involved during the construction work, the construction work for the construction of the multi-purpose hall can also be carried out as planned during the ongoing archaeological investigation,” emphasizes Stefan Sander, the responsible office manager of the city of Petershagen.