Harmelinquartier Leipzig

Location of the site

The adjacent Brühl to the south is one of the oldest streets in Leipzig and runs parallel to the northern city wall in the city center from west to east. Although not designed as a thoroughfare, this area was settled in the Middle Ages, at the latest with the construction of the city wall in the 13th century. It increasingly developed into a residential and commercial quarter, in which inns are also documented from the early modern period. Just a few meters to the west of the area was the Hallisches Tor, the northern entrance to the city.

Image Source B. Dähne Fotos © LfA 2019.

Oldest cultural layer

Remains of an early cultural layer were documented in several places on the construction site directly above the existing sandy loess. It thus marks the oldest layer on this area, which was formed naturally but has been shaped by humans. The approx. 30-40 cm thick horizon contained a lot of blue-grey pottery, mainly finds from the 13th-14th centuries, and was already being used for agriculture.

Image Source B. Dähne Fotos © LfA 2024.

Building structures

At the beginning of the 14th century, extensive settlement activity began on the plots. The associated running horizons were recorded in several places in undisturbed sections of the southern excavation area. They were found to be 4-6 cm thick on the medieval arable horizons in various profiles directly adjacent to today's Brühl. Several building structures testify to the late medieval development of these plots for a permanent settlement area. These include two earth cellars. The bases, made of rammed earth, were surrounded by frames of wooden sill beams that are now gone.

Image Source B. Dähne Fotos © LfA 2019.

Leveling layers

In the late 14th and early 15th centuries, levelling layers were applied, which in places lay on the older running horizons, the medieval arable land or even directly on the Weichselian sandy loess. Locally occurring layers with numerous organic components such as straw, wood remains, dung and bones indicate, among other things, stables, which are already attested in other courtyard situations of parcels of the Brühl.

Image Source B. Dähne Fotos ©LfA 2019.

Early modern times

With the transition to the 16th century, the increasing use of stones or bricks as building materials began on the plots and a typical urban early modern plot development emerged. At the same time, a number of unbricked latrines and waste pits were also created, the backfilling of which comprises the typical spectrum of an early modern ceramic ensemble of the 16th century, including green-glazed everyday pottery, graphene pots, tableware and stoneware. Particularly noteworthy is an incomplete fragmentary jug made of West Saxon stoneware, probably Waldenburg style, with a depiction of the full coat of arms of the Electorate of Saxony and other relief applications.

Image Source B. Dähne Fotos ©LfA 2024.

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