From the printer to the museum

In 2023, a spectacular grave was discovered during construction work near Nördlingen: Three individuals—a man (aged 20–30), a person probably female (aged 11–30), and a boy (aged 9–10)—had been buried together in a grave during the Middle Bronze Age, approximately between 1400 and 1325 B.C. Neither the cause(s) of death nor the relationship between the three individuals has yet been determined.

The grave was richly furnished with jewelry, weapons, and pottery. As provisions for the journey, the right foreleg of a sheep had been placed in the grave, already cut into pieces. The bones were in very poor condition. Nevertheless, scientific analysis determined that the bones came from a fully grown female sheep at least three years old. Based on the measurements of the radius, which could be reconstructed, a shoulder height of approximately 61 cm was calculated, which roughly corresponds to that of a Heidschnucke ewe. While the human remains were generally intended to be depicted only as silhouette drawings, the exhibition concept called for all grave goods to be presented—including the bones of the foreleg. When removed from the grave, the bones were largely disintegrated and could therefore not be displayed in the showcase where the grave find was to be reconstructed and presented to the public. Melanie Lex, collection manager and the person in charge of the SPM’s 3D printer, printed scaled scans of the originals, which can now be admired in the exhibition in Nördlingen.

Stadtmuseum Nördlingen: https://stadtmuseum-noerdlingen.de/