Finds
Archaeology of Burg Uda
Viking sword, Bronze Age sword, patten and over 100 ceramic vessels.
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Archaeology
Kurt Schietzel
From a castle ruin on the Lower Rhine to the Viking settlement of Haithabu
It is among the more surprising connections in the local history of Oedt: the archaeologist who around 1960 uncovered the foundations of Burg Uda in the mud of the Niers marsh later became one of Europe's best-known Viking Age researchers.
Kurt Schietzel, born on 25 September 1933, studied in Hamburg and Cologne and took his doctorate at Cologne in 1961 under Hermann Schwabedissen. The excavation at Burg Uda falls precisely into this period – it was an early project by a man at the start of his career, not the work of an established authority.
Career stages
From the Lower Rhine to Schleswig
1933
born on 25 September
1961
doctorate at Cologne
1963
start of the Haithabu excavations
1983
director general at Schleswig
The excavation at Burg Uda
Around 1960 extensive archaeological investigations took place on the site of Burg Uda, in which Schietzel played a leading part. The work in the marshy Niers lowland was demanding and required pumps to run continuously – an experience of wetland archaeology that could hardly have suited his later tasks better.
That is precisely where the professional bridge lies. Damp, oxygen-poor soils preserve organic material that would long since have perished on a dry site. At Oedt that meant the oak piles of the foundation and an exceptionally well-preserved wooden patten with fragments of leather still attached. At Haithabu it would mean ship timbers, building timbers and everyday objects on a large scale.
His report Burg Uda in Oedt remains the authoritative publication on the excavations.
Haithabu and Schleswig
From 1963 Schietzel headed the department for Viking research and the Haithabu excavations at the Schleswig State Museum. Over the following two decades he directed three major campaigns: the settlement excavation at Haithabu from 1963 to 1969, the excavations in the old town of Schleswig from 1969 to 1975, and the project „Harbour Investigation and Ship Recovery Haithabu" from 1977 to 1985.
Haithabu, on the Schlei inlet, was one of the most important trading places in northern Europe in the early and high Middle Ages. Schietzel founded the Haithabu Viking Museum and was the first editor of the series „Berichte über die Ausgrabungen in Haithabu". From 1983 until his retirement in 1998 he served as director general of the Archaeological State Museum Schleswig at Gottorf Castle.
In 1984 he received an honorary professorship from the state of Schleswig-Holstein, and in 2002 the Federal Cross of Merit. His documentation and chronicle of the Haithabu research appeared under the title Spurensuche Haithabu.
What this means for Burg Uda
The excavation record for Burg Uda comes from an archaeologist who went on to help shape standards in wetland archaeology. For the reliability of the Oedt findings that is a fortunate circumstance – even if the excavation would be carried out with different methods by today's standards.
Open questions
Not yet documented
• Exact duration and sponsorship of the Oedt excavation: the local account gives
the years 1959 to 1962 under Schietzel's direction, while the EBIDAT castle database
names the Bonn State Museum as the excavating institution for 1959.
• Schietzel's exact role and official position during the excavation
• Full bibliographic details of his excavation report
• Location of the excavation records and find drawings
Sources and status
The biographical data follow the standard reference works on the person; the statements on the Oedt excavation follow Karl-Heinz Brocker, Geschichte des alten Amtes und späteren Gemeinde Oedt (History of the former Amt and later municipality of Oedt), published by the Heimatverein Oedt e.V. (PDF) and EBIDAT, the castle database of the European Castles Institute, entry for Burg Uda in Oedt (ebidat.de). Where the two conflict, this is noted above.
Last updated: August 2026
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Excavation, finds and building
Building research
Architecture of the castle
What the excavation record reveals about the ground plan.
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