Excavations in Chemnitz - Palaeontology and archaeology in dialogue
Joint press release by the State Office for Archaeology of Saxony and the Chemnitz Museum of Natural History
The excavations by the Saxony State Office for Archaeology on Chemnitz Bahnhofstraße, which have been ongoing since August 2018, are being supported by palaeontologists from the Museum für Naturkunde Chemnitz. "Together with the archaeologists, we want to find out which of the soil layers encountered are of geological origin and which were created by humans," says Steffen Trümper, scientific volunteer at the Museum für Naturkunde.
The results will contribute to a better understanding of the landscape and settlement history in what is now Chemnitz city centre. So far, it has become clear that the area around Stefan-Heym-Platz has a chequered past. Gravel ridges with boulders stacked on top of each other like roof tiles bear witness to an old riverbed of the Chemnitz, which ran here before settlement. Loams with roots and rust-coloured patches over the gravels indicate that the area has dried out and a vegetated floodplain has formed. Above this are layers with canal structures and latrine passages. They provide evidence of the first settlement structures in the Chemnitz floodplain. Archaeologists and palaeontologists are still looking for clues as to the origin of the approximately 50 centimetre thick layer that lies above the first settlement horizon. Was it a massive flood that led to the deposits in the Chemnitz floodplain or is it human backfilling and an early flood defence strategy? Joint investigations of the excavation area at Getreidemarkt should provide answers.
The focus of archaeology is primarily on evidence of human history. Palaeontology looks further into the history of the earth, which has changed over millions of years. For palaeontologists, fossil plants and animals and their living conditions are at the centre of their investigations. Following the successful excavation in the Hilbersdorf district in 2008-11, the Museum of Natural History initiated another palaeontological excavation with the "Window into Earth History", Glockenstraße 16, to investigate the formation of the Petrified Forest of Chemnitz in more detail.