The street urchin from Gouda was found when excavating the Sint-Janskerk in Gouda. This large, gothic church is famous for its stained glass windows.
Most people in churches, except for the priests, are buried with their heads in the east, but not this boy. All the tell tale signs indicate that this boy was from the lower social classes and normally this means that his body was not even allowed to be buried inside the church. (more…)

In 2010 archaeologists excavated a small massgrave containing 9 individuals, among them one woman, 4 men, one young child and three teenagers. The woman reached the age of 26-35 years and was about 1.68 m tall. Her skeleton indicated that she was used to manual labour.The way she was buried and the location suggests that she died during the fights with the Spanish in the siege of Alkmaar. Women played an active part during the siege, they helped with the organisation, the transport and nursing of the wounded. They also helped defending the city walls by e.g. pouring hot pee over the enemy.