The remains of a large Celtic settlement of the La Tène people have been discovered in Lerchenauer Field, a northern suburb of Munich. About 2,300 years old, this is the first Celtic village ever found in Bavaria.
The site was excavated by the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation in advance of construction of a new housing development. Archaeologists discovered circular discolorations filled in with soil and gravel and identified them as post holes that would have once supported the roofs of Iron Age homes. The dwellings were varied in size and floor plan. Traces of wattle and daub indicate they were half-timbered wooden houses.
Extrapolating from the number of post holes, archaeologists have concluded this was a settlement with more than 100 houses, a significantly higher number of dwellings than found in other Iron Age settlements. It would have been able to house a population of at least 500, making it something of an urban metropolis for that time and place. Archaeologists have long believed that the urban area of what is now Munich had numerous large villages in the Iron Age based on important individual finds from the period, but the Lerchenauer Field find is the first actual settlement to be discovered in Munich.
Two groups of graves were also found from different periods of occupation of the site first by Celts and then by Romans. One is from the late Iron Age (450 – 15 B.C.), and the other from the late Roman Imperial period (3rd-4th c. A.D.). Artifacts of note found in late Roman graves include a set of tableware — a plate, a jug with a handle and a drinking cup — made of soapstone, and a sickle blade. Sickles are very rarely discovered in graves.
The Roman graves were associated with a settlement that was built in the same area as the previous Celtic one. It was more modest in size and population than its predecessor. It was abandoned after the demise of the Western Roman Empire
Because of the importance of the finds, the developers are cooperating fully with the state archaeologists to expand the excavation. It will continue into 2024 to ensure that all archaeological remains are salvaged before construction begins.
“About 2,300 years old, this is the first Celtic village ever found in Bavaria”?! 🤭️
Apparently, as already alluded to in the headline, only the first known village or settlement in what today is referred to as “Munich”. Just to name a few others:
In northern Bavaria, not necessarily younger, there were e.g. ‘Menosgada’ (Μηνόσγαδα) and the one atop the ‘Ehrenbürg’. At the Danube, there was the rather massive Manching oppidum.
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Ptolemy’s account is indeed younger than 2300 years, but he may have been using older resources.
If we only concentrate on the Danube basin alone, avoiding their Greek names and geographic coordinates (i.e. some of which possibly to the West of Bavaria, or to the East not necessarily in modern Germany):
“In the remainder and near the Danube river these are the towns (πόλεις): Tarodunum, the Flavian Altars, Riusiava, Alcimoënnis, Cantioebis, Bibacum, Brodentia, Setuacotum, Usbium, Abilunum, Furgisatis, Coridorgis, Mediolanium, Felicia, Eburodunum, Anduaetium, Celamantia, Singone, Anavum.”
Source: Bk. II, Chapter 10: Greater Germany (Fourth Map of Europe) / ΚΕΦ. ΙΑ´· Γερμανίας Μεγάλης θέσις.