The Archaeological Finds from Manching

The finds from Manching and from its neighbourhood present a vivid and detailed picture of this earliest urban settlement in southern Germany. One of the oldest written testimonies north of the Alps is a shard with the Latin letters "BOIOS" - probably a personal name derived from the tribe of the Boii in present-day Bohemia.

Many indications speak for close connections with the area east of the Bavarian Forest. Numerous finds of coins made of gold, silver and bronze, of coin stamps and of a small iron purse bear witness to the beginnings of coinage-based trade. Manching was once one of the most important production and export centres for glass jewellery in Europe.

A well kept secret was the production of rings and beads and the handling of coloured molten glass. The raw glass probably came from glass centres in the Mediterranean region, e.g. from Palestine. Nonetheless, the semi-finished products from Manching attest to on-site material processing. Numerous finds of iron tools prove that diverse trades were concentrated in the Oppidum.

A bowl brooch and a knot brooch, very rare pieces of jewellery north of the Alps, probably came here from northern Italy as part of an elegant garment. Hellenistic cut glass, in addition to monochrome glass, in particular the glass bowls made of coloured glass blocks (millefiori), which were mostly produced in the eastern Mediterranean region, in the Syrian-Palestinian area, are documented via transport by water. Along with wine, Mediterranean drinking and eating utensils were also imported. Ceramics with a black lustrous coating from Campania in southern Italy were considered special tableware.

Unique in Bavaria is a Roman silver dinner service for one person. It attests a refined way of life and is relatively rarely found in the northern provinces of the Empire. Unique are also the head of sculpture of a horse made of sheet iron and a little gold tree. The latter is interpreted as an oak shoot entwined with ivy to be carried along as a sacred object during solemn processions. Another rarity is an iron neck ring, from which four chains strands lead, which originally ended in hand and foot cuffs.

The two cemeteries "Am Hundsrucken" and "Steinbichl" together represent the largest and richest burial sites of the younger pre-Roman Iron Age in southern Bavaria and they underline the importance of the Manching settlement.

• All "Archeological finds from Manching" in bavarikon

The related find groups of the "Archaeological finds from Manching" available in bavarikon

• The Celtic Oppidum of Manching
• Manching and Oberstimm in Roman Times

The other part collections of "Archaeological finds" available in bavarikon

• Archaeological Prehistoric Finds
• Archaeological Finds of the Roman Period
• Archaeological Mediaeval and Modern Finds
• The Coin Collection of the Archäologische Staatssammlung
• Caches found in Bavaria
• Cemeteries and Burials from Bavaria
• Bronze-Age Swords from Bavaria
• Finger Rings with Gems from Bavaria
  
• Documentary photos from the 19th to 21st century
• The Roman treasure trove at Weißenburg in Bavaria
• The early Roman settlement on the Auerberg, Weilheim-Schongau district

>> This collection is part of the holdings of "Archaeological Findings" of the Archäologische Staatssammlung München (Archaeological Collection of the Bavarian State).