In the course of another planned construction project, excavations took place in the “Inlogparc” area in Bönen and Hamm. The archaeological specialist company carrying out the work received significant support from the Olpe branch of LWL Archeology for Westphalia. The findings of the excavations speak for themselves: The new excavation areas probably also belonged to the previously known Iron Age settlement area. This was therefore even larger than initially thought.
The archaeologists examined a total of 126 finds. The new excavation revealed not only more Late Iron Age farmsteads, but even some graves built directly at the farmsteads. “The concentration of settlements was in the north-eastern area of the excavation area. Here, among other things, a water intake point with ceramic finds and several house floor plans could be proven. Among other things, there were two larger floor plans with around 50 square meters of floor space,” says LWL archaeologist Dr. Eva Cichy.
The easily recognizable house floor plans, which could be determined from the soil discoloration of the post holes and the size of the settlement chamber, and above all the at least six burials are particularly noteworthy. In the past, only one farmstead with an associated grave was discovered in the then known settlement area. These are cremation graves in which the remains of the cremation were buried in a shallow pit together with the remains of the grave goods and the pyre.
“It remains to be seen how reliable the number of burials will be – first our soil samples have to be slurried,” explains Martha Zur-Schaepers, head of the EggensteinExca GmbH excavation team farmsteads and the graves belonging to them.”