As of: January 31, 2024, 9:36 a.m
By: Clara Wildenrath
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The bones found on the church forecourt were subjected to anthropological and archaeological examination.
© Municipality of Dietramszell
In Dietramszell, construction workers made a special find: five skeletons, some without skulls.
A historian wants to know who the dead were.
Dietramszell - Construction workers made a scary discovery in front of the monastery in the summer of 2022: while redesigning the church forecourt, they discovered human bones.
Experts subsequently recovered a total of five well-preserved skeletons (we reported).
To date, no further details were known about her origins and age.
The results of the anthropological and archaeological investigations are now available.
Skeletons without skulls: Who were the dead in Dietramszell?
“There were three women and two men in the graves, aged between around 20 and 60 years old.
All those who died died of natural causes, and assumptions to the contrary can be clearly ruled out,” writes historian Dr.
Michael Holzmann in a community press release.
The skeletons are largely complete and intact.
What is striking, however, as the pictures show, is that the skulls are partially destroyed or missing entirely.
But that can only be explained by the location in the root area of the three old lime trees and by previous road construction work, says Holzmann.
(By the way: Everything from the region is now also available in our regular Wolfratshausen-Geretsried newsletter.)
Skeletons found in front of the monastery: Scientist assumes it was a Christian cemetery
All buried people lay in a stretched position in an east-west direction and - as far as can be seen - facing north.
They were buried in two layers of earth, one on top of the other.
The scientists therefore assume that these were Christian burials that took place some time apart.
“The grave sites are probably a section of the former cemetery of the Dietramszell monastery and its church of the Assumption of Mary.” Grave goods such as jewelry or traditional costume were missing.
Five graves were found in August 2022 during construction work on the forecourt of the Dietramszell monastery church.
The sketch shows how the dead were bedded in the grave finds on the left side.
© Municipality of Dietramszell
Historical scientist researches skeleton finds: five skeletons in front of the monastery church
But: There were some hooks or eyelets made of bronze and iron on the upper body of the buried person.
According to Holzmann, these so-called detentions suggest a burial in a shroud or a linen cloth.
Possible textile remains have probably not been preserved due to the nature of the soil.
Only in the grave of a woman do fragments of an iron nail indicate a coffin burial.
“It is known that until the late Middle Ages only rich or high-ranking people were buried in coffins made of stone or wood.
All the remaining dead were wrapped in linen cloths or sewn up until the end of the 16th century, as was known from the burial of Saint Lazarus,” explains the historian.
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Dr.
Michael Holzmann © Sabine Hermsdorf-Hiss
Further tests expected: How old are the skeletons in graves in front of the monastery?
In addition to the social status of the dead person, the lack of space in the cemetery also played a role: a coffin delayed the decomposition process, so that existing graves could only be occupied again after a long wait.
It is still unclear what period the skeletons come from.
Michael Holzmann considers a classification in the late Middle Ages or early modern times to be plausible.
He assumes that the graves are around 500 to 700 years old.
The little church at Kreuzbichl was completed around the year 1500;
The dead were then buried in the local cemetery.
Holzmann: “But only the results of a scientific age determination using the C14 method can provide greater certainty.”
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