A probable Medieval St Anthony’s chapel’s burial ground and an 18th-century Orthodox suburban cemetery at Lillemäe, Tartu

Abstract

In 2025, approximately 200 m² of the cemetery at Lillemäe in Tartu was investigated; the site had previously been excavated in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This time, a further 107 burials were unearthed. The deceased were buried in up to three layers, mostly in wooden coffins; double burials and a mass grave containing ten individuals were also found. Two burials with penannular brooches dating to the 15th–16th centuries, and a double burial – probably predating the 18th century and damaged by a cannonball explosion – point to a possible medieval cemetery that may be associated with St Anthony’s Chapel. Orthodox crosses were found with the young men buried in the mass grave, and 55 cross pendants were recovered from the cemetery as a whole, linking the burial ground to Tartu’s Orthodox suburban population. The Lillemäe cemetery was probably in use until the second half of the 18th century, and the more than 600 skeletons recovered from the site provide an opportunity to study the lives and health of the suburb’s inhabitants, particularly its Orthodox community.