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Researchers recently uncovered a long-lost medieval convent in an unusual location in Denmark: a soccer field — with an expert sharing details with Fox News Digital about the “rare” find.
The discovery, made in Roskilde, was announced last month by ROMU, a state-recognized Danish museum organization.
St. Clare’s Convent, which was built in the 13th century, was found through a ground-penetrating radar survey ahead of plans to build an underground parking facility.
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“The survey revealed a well-preserved convent complex approximately one meter [three feet] below ground level,” officials said in a press release.
The scans also “revealed traces of the convent’s buildings, including rooms, columns, cloisters and a church in the southern wing,” officials said.
Researchers in Roskilde, Denmark, have discovered the remains of a long-lost medieval convent beneath a modern soccer field. (Nationalmuseet/NIKU; Jesper Langkilde/ROMU)
“The eastern wing, in particular, is exceptionally well-preserved, with clearly defined rooms and vault pillars,” the statement said.
St. Clare’s was one of five monastic sites in medieval Roskilde. Unlike the other four, it was not protected as an ancient monument because it was believed to have been lost.
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Researchers are working with the municipality on plans for trial excavations at the proposed parking site.
Excavations of monasteries and convents are “rare,” said Jesper Langkilde, an archaeologist and museum curator at ROMU.
Langkilde told Fox News Digital he was “quite surprised” by the discovery.
St. Clare’s Convent, built in the 13th century, was identified through a ground-penetrating radar survey in Roskilde. (Heritage Art/Heritage Images via Getty Images; Nationalmuseet / NIKU)
“I almost didn’t believe my own eyes that so much was still there, and that we got such a clear image of it,” he said.
The convent was a large complex, measuring roughly 230 feet by 230 feet.
Although the convent was demolished in the 16th century and hundreds of thousands of its bricks were removed, much of its underground footprint survived.
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Langkilde said the radar is detecting the lowest portions of the walls and foundations, which were made with large boulders that were often left in place when medieval buildings were torn down.
Historical records show that about 500,000 bricks were sold after the convent was demolished, but Langkilde said a complex of its size could easily have contained twice that number.
The newly identified convent complex measured roughly 230 feet by 230 feet before its demolition in the 16th century. (Nationalmuseet/NIKU)
Though there hasn’t been an excavation of the site yet, Langkilde said archaeologists expect to find “quite a lot of artifacts,” especially those from daily medieval life.
Excavators expect to find everything from “lots of pottery sherds and animal bones” to “religious objects, like pendant crosses, rosary beads and pilgrims’ badges” and objects related to writing and books, he said.
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“The convents and monasteries were centers of literacy and had libraries and book production,” added Langkilde, noting that book fittings, writing utensils and personal effects like combs and needles are also expected.
If organic remains are well-preserved, archaeologists could learn more about the nuns’ diets and the plants grown in the convent gardens.
“[The discovery] is very significant, since we know very little of the monasteries in Roskilde from an archeological point of view.”
Researchers also expect to find burials at the site, which “can tell us about who the nuns were and who else was buried at the convent,” Langkilde said.
The discoveries could also reveal the convent’s international connections. Its first nuns are believed to have come from a convent in Strasbourg, according to Langkilde.
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“The convents were part of international networks, so it would be interesting to look for signs of international relations in the [material] from this site,” he said.
“[The discovery] is very significant, since we know very little of the monasteries in Roskilde from an archaeological point of view,” he said.
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The expert also called the discovery “a very big step forward for our knowledge of the medieval monasteries.”
Archaeologist Jesper Langkilde, seen above, said he was surprised by how much of the medieval convent remained detectable beneath the ground. (Lene Steinbeck/ROMU)
“[They] played a key part in the development of Roskilde as one of the most important and wealthiest towns in medieval Denmark,” he said.
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Langkilde added, “It is an excellent example of how much archeological knowledge a geophysical survey can contribute — under the right circumstances — without even putting a shovel to the ground.”
