Celtic Oppidum of Latène period
During the 3rd–1st century BC one of Central Europe’s largest Celtic settlements was located near the confluence of the River Paar with the Danube. The settlement, which was situated on the former southern bank of the Danube directly east of a crossing-point over the Paar, was favourably sited for traffic communications at the crossroads of important long-distant routes. The east-west road running along the south bank of the Danube, which led through the middle of the oppidum, was upgraded in Roman times to the Danube south-bank road
Monumental witnesses of the oppidum are the surviving remains of an almost circular settlement-wall constructed from timber, earth and stone, which today appear in parts as an impressive embankment and which enclosed an area of ca. 380 ha (figs 1–2). Erected around 130 BC in the fashion of a murus gallicus, it was renewed towards the end of the 2nd century BC by the forward-placing of a wall using slot-and-beams. Following a second renewal of the wall, the settlement declined from ca. 80/70 BC, so that between 50 and 30 BC the area of the oppidum was largely abandoned.
The extensive abandonment of the settlement may be responsible for the pre-Roman name of the oppidum not having been handed down.
(Wolfgang David)