Exhibition: News on the Judengasse

at Museum Judengasse since April 13th, 2023

11 September 2023

Visitors are standing in the southern section of the former Judengasse that existed from the end of the Late Middle Ages until into the 19th century. What remains of it is on display in the museum’s permanent exhibition on site.

In 1987, during archaeological excavations on Börneplatz a very large number of finds was unearthed. They originated in a whole range of different settings. First and foremost, the material came from back-filled cellars under the houses in the southern section of Judengasse. There were also finds made in pits, wells, sewage channels, and water pipes.

Although all these finds were dug up on the grounds of the Judengasse, we do not know the history of their owners. They may have been the property of residents of the Judengasse or have been brought in from outside by third parties.

In the early 1990s, a first attempt was made to examine and catalog the excavation work and the finds, but the undertaking was discontinued. Now, three decades later, the work has resumed within the context of the METAhub project.

What you see here is a selection of the remaining testimony to everyday life – and survival.

Why Archaeology?

When they hear the term archaeology, many people think instinctively of the pyramids, the pharaohs, treasure in hidden graves, gold and jewels. In fact, the discipline primarily seeks to research and understand our past, namely the everyday lives of our ancestors.

Like putting together a puzzle, insights from all manner of specialist disciplines are then compiled and together form as complete a picture as possible. However, one should not forget to mention that among the finds from the dig there were various small treasures: This here is a small, drop-shaped polished amethyst, found in the Peacock Pit.

The Peacock Pit

The archaeological cataloging of the finds attaches special importance to the Peacock Pit as it is called. It was given that name during the excavation work because it was located beneath “Peacock House”, which was also known as the “Golden Peacock”. The houses on Judengasse did not have numbers but were each known by a name.

The Peacock Pit is significant for research because it was there that the dig unearthed the most material by far. Before the pit (1.7 x 4.0 m), which had wooden sides, was filled with all manner of garbage it was evidently connected to the local water supply system.

The "invisible" art of Archaeology

Workflow of archaeological finds recording

The extensive inventory and archival work of archaeologists usually takes place in a “quiet chamber” and is seldom in the focus of the public.

The project Unboxing Past enables first comprehensive insight into this area of archaeological work. The METAhub project now makes it possible for anyone interested to access this information and knowledge gained from the finds and makes the associated complex work process visible to the public.

(1) Archaeologist Dr. Sonnemann unpacks a find box. After the first inspection of the material, the finds are systematically recorded. First they are measured.

(2) In the next step, the finds are photographed with a scale.

(3) The core activity consists of the most precise possible description of the pieces: Material properties, shape and other characteristics, such as dimensions, are entered into a database in order to be able to evaluate them scientifically and to compare them with objects found at other sites. Via this database, the metadata and photographs also reach metahubfrankfurt.de.

Unboxing Past

A collective practice of memory on Frankfurt's Börneplatz

Pottery

As a rule, pottery forms by far the largest part of finds when archaeologists excavate the remains of human settlements.

“BEFORE” This is how we would like to see our finds. On show here is a pot, glazed on the inside, discovered in what we designated Pit 11.

“AFTER” (by way of example: Two creates of wall sherds, sub-find no. 135 from the Peacock Pit – cataloged as Inv. No. 1987,35.001.000.0135): This is the normal case on archaeological digs. A total of no less than 1,898 wall sherds from earthenware thrown on a wheel and glazed on the inside that all come from the Peacock Pit alone.

Animal bones - what they can tell us

Animal bones tend to play the second most important role after pottery among the materials found by excavations of ancient settlements. They provide information on what the composition of the livestock/animal population was that belonged to the respective settlement, the shape that animal husbandry took, and for what the animals were ‘used’.

Among these finds from the southern section of Judengasse what catches the eye is the extensive volume of fragments of cattle bones found, likewise from the Peacock Pit.

By means of these finds we can reconstruct the entire production process for making dice. What we do not know is where the workshop stood and who owned or operated it.

(6) First of all, the joints at the ends of the long bones (in this case metatarsal bones) were removed.

(7) The remaining central section of the bones was split into sections.

(8) These split sections were then sawed into dice-shaped pieces.

(9) In a last step, the usual number markings created by drilling small holes into the bone.

Glass - Roman cups and nubs

A small volume of glasses and/or fragments of them were uncovered in the excavated sections of Judengasse, but far less than the pottery and animal bone finds.

A special drinking vessel that was used often from the 16th century onwards and is popular to this day is the so-called a “Roman cup”: It was a goblet with glass nubs on the stem. The nubs appear in different sizes and shapes.

The most impressive of them are the berry-nubs – the name says it all.

Water supply and waste-water disposal systems

The provision of drinking water and likewise the disposal of wastewater have always been crucial for the survival of a settlement down through time.

Even before the Judengasse was established, in Medieval times there was a complex sewage system featuring different methods on the site here.

(12) One water supply system relied on wooden pipes, in our case oak trunks that were hollowed out with a beam placed over the opening. Here you can also see that there was a corner connecting elements. The find came to light in a pit beneath the Peacock House. The construction of the water pipe can be dated with great precision to the year 1382 by using dendrochronology (determining the age of wood by the growth rings)

(13) Sections of a water pipe made of fired clay and which could be slotted together were found beneath the east line of houses on Judengasse.

The remains of a foundry for plaster figures

In the infill in the cellar under the Warm Bath House, the archaeologists unearthed the waste products of a foundry for plaster figures – they found broken molds and figures where the casting went wrong. The foundry was evidently in operation in the second half of the 19th century.

As with the remains of dice manufacturing found, here, too, the question is still unanswered as to where the relevant workshop was located and whether it bore any relation to Jewish life in Frankfurt.

HOW WERE THEY MADE?

The example of a “Victoria on the Globe” is a good way of explaining what went on: The casting molds always consisted of several parts. Convex and respectively concave nubs ensured that the parts fitted together perfectly. Depending on the size and complexity of the figure being cast, individual segments were cast separately and then later assembled.

If required, and this is the case here, iron rods were included in the molds in order to be certain that the figures were sufficiently rigid and stable.

WHAT WAS MADE?

As can be seen from the objects on display here, most of the finds consisted more or less of fragments. For this reason, it has only in exceptional cases been possible to determine what the final product was meant to be: for example, was the head/small head the final product or was it intended as part of a bust or even a complete figure of a person?

Popular themes included imitations of well-known Ancient Greek or Roman statues of gods or images of famous persons. That said, there were also simple, mundane themes that must likewise have sold.

Imprint

Archaeological Museum Frankfurt

Curator: Dr. Thorsten Sonnemann

Exhibition design und graphics: Meitar Tewel

Exhibition design assistant: Marijke Wehrmann

Exhibition coordination: Dr. Liane Giemsch

Restoration support: Thomas Flügen