The excavations are the starting point for any knowledge of the oldest Aachen church buildings in and around the Cathedral. Since the 19th century almost all areas of the church interior have been excavated some several times, especially during 1910-14 by Erich Schmidt (Schmidt 1914, Teichmann 1915). Recent discoveries of timber from the wooden construction parts of St. Mary’s Church enable us to date her to the time of Charlemagne, built between 793 and 813 and possibly finished a few years earlier or later later (Schmidt et al. 2009, Maintz 2011). St. Mary's Church had at least one predecessor.  Evidence  of this comprises the foundations of an altar and a rounded wall in the western area before the original rectangle choir of the Cathedral.  Both of these elements preceded St. Mary's Church and are on higher levels than the buildings from Roman times. The results of the archaeological review were established between 2011 and 2014 (Ristow 2012a, b, Giertz/Ristow, 2013, Ristow 2013a-d, Ristow 2014a-d). Material recovered from last years floor openings are partly included here, but they are as yet unpublished and currently only known from preliminary reports (Schaub/Kohlberger-Schaub 2007, Schaub 2008a, b, 2009 Kohlberger-Schaub/Schaub, Schaub 2009, Schaub 2010, Schaub 2011).