Archaeological digs in the Wadden Sea - Seeking the legend of vanished trading hub, Rungholt.
In a vast stretch of sand, researchers have unearthed the ruins of a high medieval church, believed to be from the legendary sunken Rungholt, just a couple of feet below the surface near Nordstrand. On this sunny day, a team of about twenty archaeologists and scientists gather around the edges of this church, which measured 40 by 15 meters, large enough to house many believers during its time.
The archaeologist, Bente Sven Majchczack from Kiel University, examines a small trench dug by her colleagues at one end of the church. They are particularly intrigued by the sand in this area due to its unique preservation conditions. "We're looking at a snapshot of a medieval cultural landscape that's been literally frozen in time, untouched and unchanged," Majchczack explains. Contrarily, most cultural landscapes on the mainland have been constantly modified over the years. "Here in the sand, we have a kind of frozen photo."
Rungholt was a thriving settlement in the Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea near Nordstrand and Hallig Südfall in the late Middle Ages. But its prosperity was short-lived as it was destroyed piece by piece in a series of devastating storm surges. In 1362, a storm surge known as the "Groten Mandränke" separated several peninsulas from the mainland and left the once-island of Strand without a crucial wedge, signaling its impending doom. Finally, in 1634, a severe flood claimed what remained of the island and shaped the geography as we know it today, with the island of Pellworm, the peninsula of Northstrand, and the Hallig Nordstrandischmoor.
The research project is a collaborative effort between the Archaeological Office, the Center for Baltic and Scandinavian Archaeology, and the Universities of Kiel and Mainz, who are scouring an area of over ten square kilometers in the sand for hidden treasures. Over the past year, they've discovered dozens of medieval dwelling mounds, or Warften, thanks to geophysical measures. While some Warften still exist on the Halligen today,others were also found to have come from as far away as the region. "We've uncovered small weights and wagons," Majchczack explains. "This indicates extensive trade activity."
As she speaks, her colleague from the Leibniz Center for Baltic and Scandinavian Archaeology, Ruth Blankenfeldt, bends down to reach for a shovel. "We've discovered long Warft chains, which are artificial dwelling mounds on which people lived," she adds.
Though the exact size of Rungholt remains elusive, the team suspects it was a significant settlement for the region. "We can't imagine it as a large urban center with over 2000 inhabitants like a medieval city," Majchczack states. "Instead, it was a collection of housing hills in a moorland. They built entire villages on this moor, row by row, and systematically explored the landscape." The researchers hypothesize that there were approximately 1000 people living there.
Blankenfeldt elaborates, "We have the trade, the presence of people from different countries who came here. Everything you can associate with a normal trading place is here."
The Church of Rungholt, the focal point of this Marcellus flood-ravaged settlement, is assumed to be the main church of the administrative district of Edomsharde before Nordstrand. "The church had a superior function, possibly due to its size, which can be linked to the Edomsharde administration district that was also destroyed by the 1362 flooding," Majchczack speculates. Ultimately, these findings corroborate the importance of the site's legendary status as the mythical Rungholt. The Marcellus flood of 1362 marked the end of the Romanesque church's use. "The process was gradual," the archaeologist reiterates. "One flood would turn back the dikes, then another, more intense, flood would take its toll. And finally came the day after."
The team has also discovered evidence that suggests the Rungholters tried to close some dike gaps after the 1362 storm flood but failed in others. They have reason to believe that this area might have been below sea level during that era.
The team of researchers is getting closer to the foundations of a former church at the well in the church. They're only about half a meter away from the water level, and the color of the subsoil has changed from the usual gray to red clay. The team is certain that this is the foundation they're looking for. Their goal is to gather as much information as possible from underneath the ground.
In another part of the Wadden Sea, geographer Hanna Hadler from the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz is taking samples of the sediment. A loud machine is drilling rods into the sea. "We're drilling through the church foundation now," Hadler explains. "What we're interested in is about 2 to 3 meters deep." The remains from the time of the church's construction are not far beneath the surface. It seems that the land has been made shallower due to the extraction of peat. "And the storm floods played their part too," adds her colleague, Majchczack.
There are indeed foundation trenches of the church, and these were filled with mussel shells. Unfortunately, any masonry pieces of the church itself are no longer present.
Meanwhile, a separate team led by geophysicist Sarah Bäumler is conducting geophysical investigations. They're dragging an apparatus through the mud, which captures and records entire settlements without any excavation. "We can see in our images the mounds, the paths, the drainage ditches, the fields, and the villages," explains Majchczack. "We can sometimes even see very deep impressions and foundations of large buildings. This gives us a complete picture."
A staggering 19 previously unknown medieval settlements have been discovered by the researchers this year. "This has greatly increased the number of known, submerged residential areas in this region," says Bäumler. "We've filled a major gap in our knowledge of the settlement structure back then."
Since 2017, researchers have already identified 73 settlements, systematic drainage systems, a seadike with a lock, and two smaller churches, in addition to the large main church. "This area was densely populated with a large mudflat back then," says archaeologist Blankenfeldt.
For Majchczack, the submerged settlement in the Wadden Sea is a warning. "If you live in this landscape, you really have to take care of everything when dealing with the sea, storms, and tides," he says. "The problem was the same back then as it is today."
