Archaeologists discover a rare 600-year-old saint statue and human bone reliquaries beneath Berlin’s oldest neighbourhood | World News

PC: Landesdenkmalamt Berlin, Julia-Marlen Schiefelbein

Construction work in historic city centres often reveals traces of earlier lives, though only occasionally do archaeologists encounter objects that shed light on the personal beliefs of medieval communities. That has happened at Berlin’s Molkenmarkt, where excavations by the Berlin State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments have produced an unusual collection of religious artefacts spanning the 14th and 15th centuries. According to the Berlin State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments, the discoveries include exceptionally well-preserved saint figurines, a damaged Madonna sculpture and an extraordinary cache of ceramic figures that still contained fragments of human bone. Together, the finds provide fresh evidence of devotional practices that once formed part of everyday urban life in medieval Berlin.

Why is the 15th-century Saint Catherine figurine discovered in Berlin so important

Among the standout discoveries is a small white-clay statuette depicting Saint Catherine, measuring around 11 centimetres in height. Stylistic analysis places the figure in the middle of the 15th century, and despite spending centuries underground, it was recovered in remarkably complete condition.The figure portrays Catherine holding a sword and a wheel, symbols linked to her martyrdom, while a tall pointed crown represents her spiritual marriage. During the Late Middle Ages, Saint Catherine was widely revered across Europe as both a patron saint and a figure people turned to during times of hardship.The excavation team described the discovery as particularly uncommon for Berlin. Dr Sebastian Heber, Head of the Department of Archaeological Heritage Management, said the Saint Catherine figure and another religious statuette offer “a special insight into the bourgeois piety of the late Middle Ages.”

Medieval Madonna and Child figurine discovered in Berlin

The excavation also yielded a white-clay Madonna and Child dating from roughly the same period. The statuette stands about seven centimetres tall, although its head has not survived.Even in its incomplete state, the sculpture retains recognisable features. Mary carries the infant Christ in one arm and is believed to have been presenting him with an apple using her other hand. The Madonna remained one of the defining religious images of medieval Christianity, making the survival of even a fragmentary example significant for archaeologists studying devotional objects from the period.

Archaeologists discover 188 medieval reliquaries containing human bone

Alongside the individual figurines, archaeologists uncovered a concentrated deposit containing fragments representing 188 female ceramic statuettes from the mid-14th century. The figures appear in two distinct forms, with some wearing crowns and others without them. Each reconstructed figure would have measured roughly eight centimetres in height.The statues share another distinctive feature: medallion-shaped settings positioned across the chest. Scientific examination revealed that these compartments contained tiny fragments of human bone, indicating the objects functioned as reliquaries rather than simple decorative figures.Eberhard Völker, scientific project manager for the Molkenmarkt excavation, described the discovery as unique because of both the unusually large number of figures recovered from a single deposit and the survival of their original bone inlays.

What the Berlin discoveries reveal about medieval religious life

Reliquaries held an important place in medieval religious life, serving as containers for relics associated with saints or other sacred individuals. The preserved bone fragments within the ceramic figures suggest they played an active role in devotional practices during a period when expressions of popular piety were becoming increasingly widespread.Rather than representing isolated objects, the Molkenmarkt discoveries illustrate different aspects of religious life across two centuries. The carefully modelled saint figurines point towards private devotion, while the remarkable cache of reliquaries hints at organised religious practices involving sacred relics. As archaeologists continue examining the material, the discoveries are expected to contribute to a better understanding of medieval Berlin and the spiritual traditions that shaped daily life within the growing city.