Since 2013, this interdisciplinary research project at LMU Munich has been investigating key early medieval sites in the Erding region—including the row-grave cemetery of Altenerding—and, through modern methods such as DNA analyses, has made significant contributions to research on the Bavarians and settlement history.
The interdisciplinary research project involving LMU and its partners has been running since 2013. The basic funding provided by the city of Erding enables the project to award material resources and scholarships for the completion of doctoral theses. Cooperation agreements make it possible to generate additional research funding from universities, museums, and monument preservation organizations.
Project partners are LMU Munich (Institute for Prehistoric, Early History, and Provincial Roman Archaeology), the Bavarian State Collection of Archaeology, the Bavarian State Collection
for Anthropology and Paleoanatomy, the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation, the Erding Museum, the Archaeological Working Group at the Erding Museum, and the Erding Archaeological Association.
For some time now, Erding has been a hotspot for early medieval research of supraregional importance. The reason for this was the discovery and publication of the large row grave field at Altenerding/Klettham. In 1965, boys playing on the construction site discovered it and reported it to the relevant authorities. The row grave field is an archaeological source of the highest quality – it is of regional historical significance in terms of the "ethnogenesis of the Bavarians." But other questions are also of interest. For example, in a recent scientific sensation, the complete DNA of the historically documented "Justinian plague" of 541/545 AD was detected and decoded for the first time in double grave 1175/1176. The investigation of breastfeeding periods based on grave finds from the 4th to 7th centuries promises equally important results.
In addition to the row grave field, the focus is on the reappraisal of the large early medieval settlement in Aufhausen-Bergham. Currently of great interest is the study of the royal court of the Carolingian period in Altenerding, where excavations were carried out in August 2017 in cooperation with the Society for Archaeology in Bavaria e.V. and will continue in spring 2018. Furthermore, the town of Erding, founded in the early 13th century, and its archaeological legacy are to be investigated.
For the fourth time, the nationally renowned "Archaeological Summer Symposium at the Erding Museum" on Saturday, July 21, 2018, will provide information on the progress of the project. The latest scientific findings from Erding's prehistory and early history will be presented to the public in a series of short, popular lectures. Established scientists and young academics will present the progress of their work.
