Digging up dirt on Martin Luther

Der Spiegel has an article about ongoing archaeological digs investigating the history of Martin Luther by examining artifacts from his residences and workplaces.

The digs exposed toys and food remains, broken dishes and grain (dated to the year 1500, using the C-14 method). The archeologists also found his wife's wedding ring and a hoard of 250 silver coins.

The finds do not alter the theology, but do provide insight on the man himself:

For instance, the scholar fudged his parents' social circumstances. He claimed that he was the son of a "poor miner" who toiled away in the mines with his hatchet, and that "my mother carried all her wood home on her back."

But this is far from the truth. Luther's father already owned a copper mill as a young man, while his mother came from a bourgeois family in Eisenach and had good connections to the royal mine administration...

It was on this farm that young Martin and his siblings played, surrounded by flocks of geese and chickens. The fragments at the site reveal that they played with crossbows, clay marbles and bowling pins made of beef bones -- toys not every family could afford at the time.

The remains of kitchen scraps discovered on the property reveal that the family frequently ate roast goose and the tender meat of young pigs. During Lent, the Luther family ate expensive ocean fish, like herring, codfish and plaice.

More details and a photo gallery at the primary link. (Pictured above: a comb found at one excavation).