St Petri-Kirche, Petriplatz, Berlin

A major, interdisciplinary research project investigating the health, demography and origins of the early population of Berlin

This ongoing international project with partners from Landesdenkmalamt Berlin, MOLA, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and the University of West Florida centres on 4000 individuals excavated 2007-2009 by a team led by Claudia Melisch. The burials date from the 12th to 18th centuries. Allen Archaeology provide specialist osteological consultancy and practical support to the project.

“I appreciated working with Allen Archaeology very much for their competence, professionalism, reliability and friendliness…The collaboration has been enlightening, enriching and extremely pleasant” C. Melisch

In 2014, work focussed on the osteological analysis of three middle-aged men buried in the earliest phase of the cemetery’s use. The men died as the result of a violent assault, each attacked with different weapons. Their possessions, grave goods and their prominent position within the cemetery suggest that they were of some importance, but they had been interred together in a wooden box, perhaps a container used to return them from a distant battlefield. Genetic analysis is underway to establish if there is a familial relationship between the three, and investigation of the historical resources may yet provide further insights. Laser scanning of these unfortunate men is being carried out to aid facial reconstructions by Hilja Hoevenberg from Berlin criminal Police.

Skull of a male with multiple weapon injuries
Skull of a male with multiple weapon injuries

A group of five children from another multiple burial have been the subject of extensive and innovative DNA analysis by Jessica Rothe of Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin.

In the summer of 2015, Claudia Melisch obtained further funding for the project. This enabled the redesign of the post-excavation work to enable us to undertake a far greater level of osteological assessment. Allen Archaeology helped to design and implement the assessment of the remaining assemblage by a team of osteologists based in Berlin.

Further research and the publication of the results of this work will follow but the initial indications are that this assemblage will help to re-write the history of the population of Berlin.