Untouched Cultural Layer Found on Riga's Dome Square Reveals Everyday Life of Past Residents
Heating main reconstruction on Dome Square in Old Riga has uncovered a small untouched section of cultural layer. Objects found there offer a glimpse into the daily life of Riga's residents in the late Middle Ages and early modern period.
Works to rebuild a heating main on Dome Square in the Old Town of Riga, Latvia's capital, have exposed a small untouched section of cultural layer. A cultural layer is a deposit in the ground that preserves traces of human activity. Here it lies about two metres beneath the cobbled streets that residents and visitors walk along every day.
The objects discovered there give an idea of how Riga's townspeople lived in the late Middle Ages and the early modern period. An archaeologist commenting on the finds says that this is where one can see the everyday life of the city's inhabitants.
Where it is discussed
The discoveries were presented in the Russian-language LSM programme «Обсудим вечером» («Let's Discuss in the Evening»). The source does not specify what kinds of objects were found, how many there are or their exact age, so those details remain unknown for now.
The find matters because untouched cultural layers are rare in a historic city centre, and they let researchers study the city's past directly at the place where its inhabitants once lived.
