A rare cast bronze figurine of an armed warrior was one thousands of artifacts unearthed in the recently-concluded excavation of the Celtic oppidum of Manching in Bavaria. He is depicted lunging with a shield raised on his left arm and a sword in his right hand. There’s a loop at the top of the figure’s head, indicating it may have been worn as a pendant. The statuette was found in a ditch that is believed to been a boundary. Pottery recovered from the same layer dates to the 3rd century B.C.
Only 75mm (three inches) high and weighing 55 grams (two ounces), the warrior is small but remarkably complex. It was made using the lost-wax casting technique, a method that involves creating a detailed model out of wax, encasing it in clay and then melting it. The molten bronze is then poured into the opening and fills the cavity once occupied by the wax figure.
Between 2021 and 2024, archaeologists with the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation (BLfD) have excavated 6,800 square meters of the Celtic fortified settlement southeast of Ingolstadt, recovering more than 40,000 finds. The BLfD has comprehensive standards for the recording and preserving all archaeological artifacts, including requiring X-rays of all metal objects. This process not only helps identify the finds, but also preserve them as different metals require different climate-controlled environments to prevent deterioration.
The metal finds recovered from the Manching excavations totaled 15,268 pieces, all of which were X-rayed at the BLfD Munich’s facility before conservation. Many of them were fragments and waste materials from metal working. The X-ray examination gave archaeologists new insight into the manufacturing techniques, materials and metal recycling of the oppidum’s workshops.
The X-ray of the bronze figurine revealed that the object, thickly encrusted with copper corrosion products that obscured its details, was a Celtic warrior made in a solid bronze casting.
The meticulousness and scope of the excavations gave archaeologists new insight into how the residents of the oppidum lives. They were able to identify fish bones and scales for the first time, confirming the consumption of fish which you’d think would be obvious given its location on the Paar and Danube rivers, but in fact had never been archaeologically documented before. The finds also confirmed that the oppidum’s diet included beef and pork. Horses were slaughtered, but only in advanced age, so not for food. Sheep and goats were raised for their renewable resources (wool, milk), not for the meat.
In grimmer news about Manching, the gang of thieves who broke into the museum in November 2022 and stole the hoard of 482 Celtic gold coins have been convicted and sentenced. The main suspect was sentenced to 11 years in prison. His two henchmen in the break-in got seven years and four years and nine months respectively. (The fourth suspect was sentenced to eight years, but for the other burglaries the gang pulled off, not for the Manching theft.) That’s some justice, at least, but unfortunately they all pleaded not guilty and have volunteered no information. The stolen treasure is still at large. That’s assuming any of it still exists at all, as these… individuals… were found with lumps of melted down coins.
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