The Forgotten Dead of Berlin

Underneath a parking lot in central Berlin, a team of archaeologists uncovered the remains of nearly 4,000 forgotten individuals from a long-lost church cemetery obliterated by a past Communist regime. This discovery, made almost twenty years ago, has since led to remarkable revelations about the city’s history.

Through meticulous research conducted on the ancient bones and teeth, scientists have shed light on Berlin’s past, pushing back its known inhabitation timeline by nearly a century. However, the skeletal remains could only reveal a limited amount of information.

After extensive study on these early Berliners was completed, the remains of 100 medieval and early modern individuals, including babies, children, and adults, were ceremoniously returned to the city center. They now find their final resting place in a museum, Petri Berlin, located at the very site where they were callously paved over.

As a gesture of reconciliation and respect conceived by the project’s lead archaeologist, a horse-drawn hearse accompanied by 100 modern-day Berliners paraded the coffins of the ancient settlers through the city streets in a grand funeral procession.

“I thought, We have found the graves of almost 4,000 people, and I wanted to show how much life that is,” said Claudia M. Melisch, the project’s lead archaeologist. “It is a gesture from us recognizing their existence.”