The medieval and post-medieval deserted settlement of Lindelach near Gerolzhofen (district of Schweinfurt)

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Ingolf Ericsson
• Subject Area: Prehistory and World Archaeology
• Term: from 2015 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 269744405

During the research project Bischofspfalz und Wüstung Lindelach bei Gerolzhofen, Landkreis Schweinfurt, which was also funded by the DFG, it was possible to conduct excavations at two important archaeological sites east of the lower franconian town of Gerolzhofen in Northern Bavaria. By achieving to reconstruct the medieval and post-medieval settlement activities in this ideal micro-region, its development as a previous unknown major centre between the 8th and 14th century could be analysed and already presented in detail. The so-called Kapellberg, one of the mentioned locations, evolved from an early medieval fortification of the 8th to 10th century and a carolingian Königshof to a fortified castle in the 10th century with a mighty and representative stone building in the tradition of ottonian royal palaces and courts. The continual use of the site as a high medieval curia and a late medieval administrative centre of the Würzburg diocese shows the importance of this place, which was connected to a near and nowadays deserted village by the name of Lindelach, the second target of the excavations. Unfortunately, most of the post-medieval finds and structures of this settlement, which can be dated back to the 10th century and which was destroyed in 1631 during the Thirty Years´ War, could not be analysed for the time being due to the unexpected results of the initial research project. But presenting three partially excavated homesteads in Lindelach, one from the first half of the 15th century and two from the decades around 1600, can provide insight to many aspects of rural life in this era for different reasons: On the one hand, examining a large and chronologically classifiable amount of pottery from a burned down cellar including a near well from the first half of the 15th century could enrich the basic research of pottery in southern Germany substantially. On the other hand, settlement archaeology of post-medieval villages and especially in the time of the Thirty Years´ War is surprisingly still a subject requiring much more further research because most projects focus on the military aspects of this conflict and aren´t able to shed light on the material culture and daily routine of the common rural population. Due to the preliminary work already done, the concluding analysis of the excavations in Lindelach would be able to present new results and basics concerning post-medieval settlement archaeology in southern Germany, in which the amount of work wouldn´t bear comparison with the effort and funds yet needed. Finally, the findings from Lindelach should be compared with other national research regarding post-medieval settlement archaeology at a public symposium to collect and present the newest development and results of this area of expertise.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants