Oppidum of Manching - History of Exploration

History of Exploration

The enormous circular fortification around the site survived the demise of the settlement as a visible landscape feature. It had already been noted by the Romans (see below); for centuries it remained an important landmark e.g. for the boundaries of parishes or bishoprics. A first description was penned by the schoolteacher J.A. Buchner (1776–1854) in 1831, under the erroneous assumption of having found the Roman site of Vallatum. First excavations took place in 1892-93 under Joseph Fink (1859–1929). In 1903, Paul Reinecke recognised the site as a Celtic oppidum.

In 1936-38, during the Nazi remilitarisation of Germany, the Luftwaffe constructed an airfield at Manching. This led to the destruction of large proportions of the site; without providing the opportunity for systematic archaeological research. Only very few finds were recovered from the construction site. In 1938, the archaeologist Karl-Heinz Wagner started an excavation of the northeast part of the enclosure. Within the visible earthen bank, he discovered the remains of a wall, which he described as a murus gallicus according to Julius Caesar's description of such structures. Due to the presence of the airfield, Manching was the target of multiple bombing raids during World War II, leading to further destruction of archaeological evidence.

Since 1955, the Römisch-Germanische Kommission (Romano-German Commission) of the German Archaeological Institute and the Bavarian State Archaeological Service have been conducting extensive excavations at the site:

• 1955–1961 "Central Area" (directed by Werner Krämer)
• 1962–1963 "East Gate" (Rolf Gensen)
• 1965–1973 "Central Area" and Southern bypass (Franz Schubert - not the composer!)
• 1984–1987 Northern bypass (Ferdinand Maier)

By 1987, c. 12 hectares of the settlement had been examined. Since 1996, a series of further rescue excavations ("Altenfeld" and the EADS area) have been conducted by Susanne Sievers, increasing the excavated area to 26 hectares by 2002. As a result, Manching is most substantially explored oppidum in Central Europe. The increasing degree of exploration does, however, coincide with a progressive destruction of the site, as much of the new excavations take place to retrieve information before areas are built on (see Rescue archaeology).

Since 2006, finds from the oppidum are on display in the Keltisch-Römisches Museum Manching (Manching Celtic-Roman Museum), a branch of the Bavarian State Archaeological Collection.