18 December 2024 The Future is the Product of the Past

An unknown church with a special floor plan discovered in Erwitte, northwestern Germany

Archaeologists from the Westphalia-Lippe Regional Association (LWL) have discovered the remains of a former church from the 10th century near Erwitte-Eikeloh (Soest district). The 30-meter-long stone building has a floor plan that was previously unknown in Westphalia, northwestern Germany.

In 2021, a volunteer drew the LWL experts’ attention to a concentration of limestone fragments in a stream meadow east of Erwitte. In the same year, an inspection of the structure, which would have been threatened with destruction by the plow at some point, surprisingly revealed the foundations of a stone building. After further excavations in 2022 and 2023, it is clear: these are the last remains of a church with a floor plan that is unique in Westphalia.

The finding is particularly unexpected because written sources for a church are completely missing. The earliest reports that refer to a settlement around the Bachaue come from the 11th century. However, these only mention the hamlet of “Osthem”, but no church. “We were able to prove that the church was rebuilt here after a much older farmstead was demolished,” reports excavation manager Dr. Eva Cichy from the Olpe branch of LWL Archaeology. “We have excavations of post buildings around the church and below the foundations, which indicate settlement at this location since the Roman Empire,” Cichy continued.

During the excavation campaign in spring 2023, the foundations of an extension in the south of the church were surprisingly uncovered. Photo: LWL

“In order to classify and date the church building more closely, we rely not only on meaningful finds but also on scientific results,” explains the head of the Olpe branch, Prof. Dr. Michael Baales. Ceramic finds, the first 14C dating and comparisons with other floor plans currently indicate that the building dates back to around 900 AD.

An entirely unrecorded floor plan of this period is not unusual in Westphalia. New churches were usually built on top of their predecessors. For this reason, the older floor plans are often largely destroyed or can only be seen in parts during excavations. The floor plan in Eikeloh is much more complex and does not correspond to the usual pattern of hall and choir.

The newly discovered church consists of an 8.40-meter vast hall, to which a rectangular choir adjoins to the east. An additional room to the east of the choir, a so-called choir apex building, is unusual. This room could have been planned as a chapel or burial place. “Such a floor plan is so far unique in Westphalia, but comparable church buildings are known, for example from the collegiate churches in Bonn-Vilich and the Niedermünster in Regensburg,” reports LWL chief archaeologist Prof. Dr. Michael Rind.

Finally complete: the last section, the western end of the church, was uncovered in the last campaign this late summer and documented with photogrammetry photos. Plan: LWL/L. Cramer/E. Cichy

The church in Eikeloh was probably completed, as remains of plaster and a later additional extension in the south suggest. However, it was probably abandoned after a short time and planned to be demolished before the 12th century. Why is one of the mysteries that the archaeologists want to get to the bottom of as part of the evaluation of the excavation results over the next few years?

Westphalia-Lippe Regional Association (LWL)

Cover Photo: View over the excavation area to the south, towards Hellweg (B1 in approx. 200 m), on the right edge of the picture the Pöppelsche stream. Photo: LWL/L. Cramer

Related Articles

Archaeologists have discovered the remains of a stone circle in the Castilly Henge, located in Cornwall, England

20 May 2022

20 May 2022

Archaeologists have unearthed a mysterious stone circle at the center of a prehistoric ritual site near Bodmin in Cornwall, located...

Experts believe the 7,000-year-old circular stone structures were once houses, complete with doorways and roofs in Saudi Arabia

16 July 2024

16 July 2024

Archaeologists have excavated eight ancient “standing stone circles” in Saudi Arabia that they say were used as houses. Eight of...

Famous Egyptologist Zahi Hawass Wants to See Hieroglyphs as an İntegral Part of The Curriculum

23 February 2021

23 February 2021

The Egyptian council of ministers is discussing the introduction of archaeological and tourist materials in the education curriculum to help...

Luxurious Feather Beds of Iron Age Warriors

27 March 2021

27 March 2021

According to a new study, two warriors from the 7th century in Sweden were buried in graves where they were...

Bronze age settlement found under in Swiss lake

23 April 2021

23 April 2021

For the first time, archaeologists discovered traces of a Bronze Age lakeside village beneath the surface of Lake Lucerne. The...

Stone Age Loved to Dance to the Rhythm of the Elk Tooth Rattles

4 June 2021

4 June 2021

Thousands of years ago, people danced frequently and to the rhythm. This is the conclusion of the discovery of elk...

World’s Oldest Customer Complaint “at 3800 Years Old”

4 February 2021

4 February 2021

When we are not satisfied with the product we receive, what almost all of us do is complain about the...

Analysis Of Roman Coins sheds light on the Roman financial crisis

17 April 2022

17 April 2022

New scientific analysis of the composition of Roman denarii has brought fresh understanding to a financial crisis briefly mentioned by...

Archaeologists found a 2,000-year-old Roman road in Cluj-Napoca in northwest Romania

23 January 2023

23 January 2023

Archaeologists from the National Museum of the History of Transylvania have discovered a well-preserved 2,000-year-old Roman road in the city...

Persian-era plaster walls were discovered during excavations at Zeyve Höyük in central Turkey

2 August 2022

2 August 2022

This year’s excavations at Porsuk-Zeyve Höyük (Zeyve Mound) near the Porsuk village of the Ulukışla district of Niğde, located in...

A stone bathtub, which is considered to be the first example of ‘water birth’, was found in Ani Ruins

7 September 2022

7 September 2022

A stone tub was found in the large bath, whose birth was mentioned in a work by the Turkish scholar...

Washi papers discovered inside a 675-year-old Buddhist statue in Japan

3 February 2024

3 February 2024

The carved head of an ancient Buddhist statue hidden in the Myooin temple in Fukuyama, Hiroshima, Japan, has revealed pages...

A cobbled ford uncovered near Evesham could be the finest Roman example of its type in Britain

19 October 2022

19 October 2022

A cobbled ford believed to be of Roman construction has been discovered near Evesham in Worcestershire, England. If the path...

Archaeologists discovered a dragon made of mussel shells in in Inner Mongolia

26 August 2023

26 August 2023

Archaeologists discovered a dragon made of mussel shells earlier this week in Chifeng, North China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, which...

Silk Road archaeological discoveries draw attention despite the pandemic

20 June 2021

20 June 2021

A report prepared by more than 30 global experts believes that despite the COVID-19 pandemic, archaeological discoveries related to the...