- Chapter Ten -
density of occupation or size. The extensive excavations at Manching make it the best
known site, but in few respects does it have parallels, and those - open settlement on
a river bank, murus gallicus defences - lie more with western than with central
Europe.
Small centres of trade and production were already appearing at the beginning of
La Tene D around 120 Be, sites such as Basle, Berne and Breisach, or specialist
settlements such as the salt-producing site of Bad Nauheim. Typically these sites are
undefended and lie on river routes. Already Manching (Figure 10.2) was something
of an exception. It was huge in comparison to other open settlements, and it started
much earlier, around 300 Be. When other sites were abandoned for more defensive
locations, Manching stayed where it was, and was given ramparts around 120 Be.
Though the area enclosed by the defences was large, around 350 ha, it was not excep-
tional - the Heidengraben bei Grabenstetten and Kelheim were larger, but in terms
of the area of dense occupation and its size (around three times the size of Roman
London), it seems to have had no peer. It is also exceptional in terms of its longevity,
as most sites were occupied for only a generation or two at the most. Even after the
construction of its ramparts, Manching survived for another seventy-five years,
finally being abandoned or destroyed around the middle of the first century Be.
In the Mittelgebirge, many sites which had been occupied in Hallstatt D and La
Tene A were reoccupied and refortified. Some, like the Staffelberg, were only
....
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.. HUNDSRUCKENK.
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IRON
SMELTING •
LA TENE 8-C •
CEMETERIESFigure 10.2 The oppidum of Manching and its relationship to earlier La Tene flat cemeteries,
iron smelting sites, and religious enclosure (Viereckschanze).162