As part of the extensive redevelopment of Naumburg Cathedral Square, large-scale archaeological investigations have been underway around Naumburg Cathedral since spring this year. Archaeologists have identified a small cemetery situated directly between the 11th-century cathedral and the Chapel of St Nicholas. Almost all of the 13 graves recorded so far are distinguished by relatively elaborate furnishings.

While extensive investigations at Naumburg Cathedral conducted in the 1960s provided a good overview of the cathedral’s architectural history, the area surrounding the building remains largely unexplored.

Construction of the first cathedral began in the years following the relocation of the episcopal seat from Zeitz to Naumburg and is thought to have been largely completed by the 1040s. One unusual feature is that the bishop’s seat was established in the outer bailey of the “new castle” (Naumburg) belonging to the Ekkehardine margraves.

Beginning around 1210, the earliest cathedral was gradually replaced by the present building, which is considerably larger than its predecessor. The crypt of the earlier structure was incorporated into the Late Romanesque cathedral.

South of the cathedral’s eastern choir stood the Chapel of St Nicholas, constructed in the 11th century. In the 15th century, it was built over by the Chapel of the Three Kings, which remains impressively preserved today.

Between the Cathedral and the Chapel of St Nicholas

In recent weeks, archaeological investigations have revealed a small cemetery situated directly between the 11th-century cathedral and the Chapel of St Nicholas. Almost all of the 13 graves recorded so far are distinguished by relatively elaborate construction. Five of the individuals were buried in stone-lined graves built with masonry. The sides were generally formed from very large stone slabs bonded with lime mortar. Before the grave pits were backfilled, the stone structures were covered with wood.

Two further individuals were also interred in stone-lined graves, although in these cases the mostly slab-like stones were set upright without mortar. Other graves feature stone slabs placed at the head and foot ends of the grave pits.

Those buried in the cemetery include men, women and adolescents, as well as an infant around one year old, who was found as a later burial in one of the mortared stone-lined graves. Evidence suggests that the infant may have been closely related to the individual buried beneath it.

Another distinctive feature of the small cemetery is that the graves overlap in only a few instances, and even then only at their edges. This suggests that the graves were marked above ground and that the cemetery was used for a relatively short period.

Since medieval burials generally contain few or no grave goods, the graves can currently be dated only on the basis of their characteristic construction and the fact that the cemetery was disturbed by the construction of the Late Romanesque cathedral. More precise conclusions will only become possible following scientific analyses of the skeletal remains. Based on current evidence, the burials probably all date to the 11th century.

The people buried between the cathedral and the Chapel of St Nicholas may have belonged to a single, perhaps extended, family group. The results of planned DNA analyses of the skeletons by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig will be needed to investigate this possibility.

What is clear, however, is that members of the contemporary elite were laid to rest here. This is indicated not only by the elaborate construction of the graves, but above all by the cemetery’s location between two sacred buildings and directly in front of the cathedral’s main entrance. Such prestigious locations were often used for the graves of church founders and patrons.

The burials were carefully documented before the skeletons were removed for comprehensive anthropological and scientific analysis. The results will contribute to ongoing research into early medieval elites conducted by the State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology of Saxony-Anhalt (LDA), which has been investigating these populations for years using state-of-the-art methods.