Oppidum

Under an oppidum (Latin oppidum attachment, Schanz conditioning, solid square; plural: oppida ) refers to a fortified, city -like scale settlement of the La Tène period (late Iron Age ).

4.1 Overviews
4.2 Individual oppida

Definition

The term dates back to Caesar 's De Bello Gallico ( The Gallic War), in which he described Gallic entrenchments. Oppida were widespread throughout Western and Central Europe. Typical are the fixtures through a backfilled with earth or stones scarf wall of wood, the so-called Murus Gallicus. However Manching is the easternmost oppidum with a Murus - Gallicus, further to the east so-called post slot walls are detected as attachments.

The term is also used for settlements of late antiquity, one speaks about Salzburg as the oppidum Iuvavum. A oppidum is simply a settlement that ( yet) have a town.

Oppida are often referred to as the first city -like settlement, but little is known about their infrastructure. As excavations in Manching near Ingolstadt, on the title mountain in Luxembourg and at Bibracte in France show exhibit at least some a dense and regular structures inside. Concentrations Mediterranean imports to prove the importance of these settlements in the trade network of the La Tène period. Often the oppida are also associated with shrines. The so-called ( Celtic ) oppida culture in the late La Tène period is mainly characterized by the fact that in these most large settlements town-like structures have been established that various trade relations existed and an increasing specialization and differentiation of resident work areas (crafts, administration) can be determined.

History of Research

Many oppida had fallen some time in the focus of local scholar due to the terrain features. The first scientific excavations were taking place in the second half of the 19th century. Landmarks of the research were the excavations of:

E. Castagne in Murcens 1868
E. Stoffel 1862-1864 in Alesia and Gergovia,
O. Vauville 1886 and 1887 in Pommiers, Picardie ).
J. Finck in 1892 and 1893 in Manching
JL pic published in 1903 his excavation in Stradonice (Czech Republic).

The excavations of Jacques Gabriel Bulliot and later by his nephew Joseph Déchelette (1862-1914) 1867-1907 on Mont Beuvray were the breakthrough. Around 1900 it was clear that similar settlements had BC exists in the 2nd and 1st century of the British Isles to Central Europe. Due to cultural conformity at the end of the Iron Age developed Déchelette J., curator of the Musee des Beaux Arts et d' archeology of Roanne, in the early 20th century, his theory of the " oppida civilization ". The early death Déchelettes the oppida research faltered. 25 years later she was in Germany by Joachim Werner's essay: "The importance of the urban sector for the cultural development of the early Keltentums " revived. He put the urban aspect of the fortifications in the foreground.