Archaeological excavations at the Georg Eckert Institute
Unexpected archaeological finds during building works in Freisestrasse in Braunschweig
The building works for the Georg Eckert Institute’s new research library in Freisestrasse have been progressing well since the ceremony to lay the foundation stone. However archaeologists have recently joined the mechanical diggers on the building site. During excavations for the new library building’s foundations builders discovered human remains, most likely attributable to the graveyard of the cloister that once occupied the site. Archaeologists from Arcontor Projekte GmbH are now on site and are documenting the finds, which also include traces of buildings from the baroque period, in close collaboration with the authorities for cultural heritage and monuments preservation in Lower Saxony and Braunschweig. The area has been covered to protect it from the weather and the excavation site has also been secured. ‘Construction work on the site will adapt to accommodate the excavations’ said Prof. Eckhardt Fuchs, Director of the GEI.
It is already clear that the construction of the new library building will be delayed. The stoppages resulting from the extraction, processing and documentation of the archaeological finds must be allowed for, security measures put in place and a new timetable drawn up. The construction work will resume once the excavations are complete. The conversion of the former nurses’ accommodation is not affected and that building work is progressing well. ‘Although this discovery will delay our building project’ added Professor Fuchs, ‘as a historian I naturally have a scientific interest in the excavations and am glad these unexpected finds will add to the wider knowledge of Braunschweig’s history’.
‘We cannot currently comment further on the duration of the excavations or the nature of the finds, other than to say that is our intention, and very much in our interest, to keep the public regularly updated’ stated Fuchs.
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