Archaeologists excavated the remains of a former monastery in Saxony-Anhalt and gained new insights into the monastic life at the time of the peasant wars. Several farm buildings were found under the ruins of the Augustinian choir monster Kaltenborn near Allstedt, including a tithe barn, a blacksmith and a law firm. The parts of the building and objects recovered thereby provide information about the history of this medieval monastery and testify to an abrupt end of the monastery life 500 years ago.
The Augustinian choir monster Kaltenborn near Allstedt in the Mansfeld-Südharz district was once one of the wealthiest monasteries in the surrounding area of the Harz. The Catholic men’s monastery was founded in 1118 and was inhabited from the Middle Ages to the early modern period. For a good 420 years it was not only religious, but also an economic center in its region. In 1525, in the course of the German Peasant War and the Reformation, the facility was looted and destroyed, so that it has disappeared today. For two years now, archaeologists around Felix Biermann from the State Office for the Preservation of Monuments and Archeology Saxony-Anhalt to the remains of this extensive monastery complex hidden underground.
The archaeology team has already uncovered the surprisingly well -preserved ruins of the former monastery church and the subsequent exam, including an altar base with a podium and stepping system in the southern aisle of the church. Initial analyzes suggested that the church complex was once within a rectangular, 140 by 200 meter farm, which was surrounded by a wall and comprised various other buildings. The researchers suspect stables and barns, various workshops and administration buildings, a guest house, a school and a hospital. In their recent excavations, which will last until September 12, 2025, the archaeologists also devoted themselves to these economic areas, to which the monastery owed its wealth.
More buildings of the monastery system unveiled
In fact, Biermann and his colleagues found numerous stones that come from the massive stone buildings of the farm, including powerful foundations, floors, rubble and basement. Among other things, a 30 -meter -long, three -aisle building with very strong walls came to light. It probably served the monks as a tithe barn, in which they stored the forced taxes of the farmers from the area. These were mostly food such as grain, but also other useful things. In the broken foundation of this building, the team discovered a human skeleton in the side and without a head. However, it is still unclear who the mysterious death was, when and why it was laid down in this unusual point.
Another exposed building could be a former smithy, as the objects found in it suggest. The archaeologists came to half a dozen clay dome stoves and parts of a bell casting system. This once melted and processed in shameful metal such as copper, tin, brass or bronze. Biermann and his colleagues therefore suspect that a bell for the neighboring collegiate church was cast in this monastery smithy. In another structure, the team found three types of writing handles, some of which were richly decorated and dating from the 12th or 13th centuries. With them, the monastery dwellers probably made notes on waking boards. These finds suggest that the building was a law firm or another administration building of the monastery.
Everyday objects testify to the monastery life
In addition, the archaeologists found numerous objects that testify to the monastic life. In an oven, for example, there were completely charred dörr plums, which show that dry fruit was prepared in the monastery. Smelled clay dishes and oven tiles generally testify to the kitchen equipment and devices such as hatchets, chop and a pitch fork from agricultural work. A spinning host of a spindle shows that the monastery dwellers spun yarn by hand. In addition, the excavations promoted many coins, richly decorated fittings of belts and razor sheaths, window glass, a rosette -shaped stucco decoration and numerous book fittings. These objects testify to an upscale lifestyle and a multifaceted everyday life in the monastery. Some of them could have been made on site, for example in the exposed smithy.
However, this monastic life apparently found an abrupt end in the spring of 1525. The monastery was looted and then burned down This can still be seen today on the clear layers of fire on the now excavated buildings in the business courtyard, as the researchers explain. They also found roof beams and roof tiles that had broken down in the fire. It is still unclear who was responsible for this destruction. Farmers from the surrounding towns of Riestedt and Emseloh could have been, who attack the monastery on April 30, 1525, as described by historical documents. Or it was mercenaries who attacked the monastery on April 4, 1525 and lit 14 stables and two barns.
The monastery on the “Cold Born”-the rediscovery of the Augustinian choir monumen at Allstedt. © Landesmuseum for Halle Halle
Source: State Office for the Preservation of Monuments and Archeology Saxony-Anhalt-State Museum for Prehistory
