Ausgrabungen in der St.-Amandus-Kirche in Aschendorf, Ldkr. Emsland

There is hardly any evidence of Early or High Medieval churches in rural North-West Germany apart from the Church of Saint Amandus, the interior of which has extensively been excavated in 2001-02 by the Lower Saxonian heritage authorities. In this process, five wooden churches of the 9th to 12th/13th century were discovered, more than in any other North German place. The first two of them were post structures, followed by sill-beam constructions from the early 10th century onwards. With the exception of the 2nd church built after a conflagration, a steady increase of size was observed. Internal wooden installations and subdivisions provided detailed insights into the building history, which constitutes the international significance of the discoveries. All Late Medieval and Early Modern burials and features in the existing stone church are published, too. In order to create an overall picture of the - very protracted - Christianisation process the historical documents on Aschendorf and the regional ecclesiastical organisation were consulted, too. There are hints that well-known church types, e. g. from the Rhineland, were imported in the North in the 9th century, but building types soon gained in independence.