In Bonaduz, to the south-west of Chur, cemeteries were excavated on the hill Bot Panadisch and the plateau Bot Valbeuna. On the latter site 700 graves were found in the years 1962-1963 and 1966-1971. The oldest graves were from the middle of the fourth century, the last from the late seventh century. Two small rectangular buildings, six metres apart, have been called Christian memoriae, so tombs for martyrs, chosen as the most favoured places for burial.
Plan of the two rectangular buildings. Schneider-Schnekenburger 1980, Abb. 3-4.
One building (3.80 x 4.50 m.) contained three inhumations, without grave goods. The other building (3.20 x 3.80 m.) had a small antechamber. Originally the funerary chamber contained one burial, to which a second was added later. Still later 34 more skeletons were laid to rest, stacked in four layers: an above-average number of children and young people, probably only male. The anthropological investigations found no traces of a violent death or evidence of diseases on the skeletons. Unfortunately nothing can be said about the skeleton of the first burial, because the excavators did not keep it separated. The oldest grave goods are from the fourth and fifth century.
Literature
Schneider-Schnekenburger 1980, 17-54; Overbeck-Pauli 1982, 122-127; Rageth 1986, 100-101; Drack-Fellmann 1988, 370; Hilty-Ebnöther-Seifert 2018.
[26-Nov-2023]
