Questions remain about the death of the body foundSurprising grave find in front of Walpurgis Church

By Dr Norbert Hansen and Uwe Schneider

In the course of the municipal renovation work on the front church square at the beginning of March 2021, a huge grave slab was unexpectedly uncovered. It lay around 0.80 metres below the current paving level, slightly offset from the southern entrance to the church and parallel to the long side of the building. The surface of the 1.96 metre long, 1.02 metre wide and 0.23 metre thick sandstone bears only a raised cross above a segment of a circle (arched base). Names or dates are missing. The back and sides are also unmarked. The entire tomb slab is elaborately and carefully carved, a testimony to high stonemasonry. For the iconography of the depiction of a cross above/on a semicircle, please refer to the relevant literature; the term ‘expiatory cross’ can also be found here, albeit in connection with upright stone crosses. The meaning of the arc of a circle is sometimes interpreted as a circle of the earth, sometimes as a rainbow.

Lifting the grave slab

Contrary to expectations, the heavy slab did not have a tomb-like stone surround as an abutment, but rested directly on the approximately 0.30 metre thick excavation of the grave pit. This layer was heavily interspersed with human bone remains, which can be seen as the result of frequent reburials in the cramped cemetery. A typical situation for the Middle Ages. Beneath this layer, a skeleton was uncovered whose anatomical structure was still largely intact. It lay exactly in the centre under the grave slab, so that there was a clear connection between the slab and the burial. As the remains of iron nails were also found, it can be concluded that a plank coffin had been placed directly on the basalt rock, which had been worked quite evenly here.

Situation under the grave slab

The burial of the approximately 1.70 metre tall individual was carried out according to Christian custom with the head to the west, facing east towards the rising sun. The position of the left arm was conspicuous, as it was found in an anatomical composite about 10 centimetres outside the normal position. Both legs, also found in anatomical union, did not lie with the two femoral necks in the pelvic depressions. The pelvis itself was broken in the centre, with the right half of the pelvis lying slightly above the right knee. The possibility of the burial being disturbed by subsequent burials can be ruled out, as the massive grave slab covered the burial over a wide area and thus protected it. The burial of an already skeletonised person can also be ruled out, as apart from the aforementioned deviations there is an anatomical composite.

Exposed skeleton

Of particular interest was, of course, the question of the age of the grave or burial. As in other recent cases (charcoal finds on the market square and bone remains in the ossuary cellar), radiocarbon dating (C14) was carried out on a part of the skeleton at the Kurt Engelhorn Centre for Archaeometry in Mannheim. The result indicates that the person found in 2021 died between 1308 and 1402 with a 95.4 per cent probability. It was not possible to determine the gender. However, based on the completely preserved dentition, which showed neither caries nor tartar, it could have been a young adult. The date is also linked to the discovery of the oldest grave slab in Alsfeld to date.

However, the cause of the anatomical deviations in the position of the limbs and the broken pelvis remains unclear. Are they the result of a terrible accident? Or, even worse, is it a deliberate mutilation by quadripartition, as was done in the Middle Ages for the most serious crimes such as treason or attempted murder against the authorities? In such a quadripartition, three of the victim’s limbs were torn off; due to the lack of resistance, one arm or leg remained on the body. The skeleton described here shows such characteristics; three limbs were severed, the right arm remained on the body.

However, the fact that convicted criminals were not buried in the consecrated cemetery but outside the city walls speaks against such a hypothesis. The lack of any inscription on the carefully crafted grave slab is also unusual. Why should the burial remain anonymous or the name not be passed down for the memory of the churchgoers? Research into the history of the Thuringian landgraves also provided no evidence of violent deaths or murders in the period in question. As with the discovery of the building foundations on the market square in 2020, interesting questions remain unanswered.

Grave slab

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)