War a blank on the map of archaeological finds in the Bad Kreuznach district. A few find sites were already known, but there were still no digs or listings available. Through constant observation and subsequent digs, however, 22 find sites have now been identified. All digs were carried out under supervision of the Office for the Care of Buried Monuments (Amt für Bodendenkmalpflege) in Mainz. Listed here are some of the finds that have been brought to light in Auen, or locations where finds have turned up: Stone hatchets and ceramics from roughly 3500 to 2000 BC Two burnt-out wooden wells from Celtic times Millstone from Celtic times Grape seeds, wheat and barley corns from La Tène times Great clay vessel from Hallstatt times Finds near Saint Willigis’s Chapel from Gallo-Roman times Four Roman watermains Top of a Roman amphora Roman house with sewerpipe Roman coin from roughly AD 200 Various places with Roman potsherds Ivory cross from roughly 1300 Two places with Roman vessels Eight sandstone quarries Two limekilns One coal pit and further prospecting Middle Ages Auen's history, which is marked by an unusual wealth of documentary material for a place of its size, thus seeming almost exaggerated, can be explained by the village's time as a landhold of Sponheim Abbey and Saint Willigis’s Chapel’s time as a landhold of Disibodenberg Abbey. The formerly held assumption that Auen arose in the time of the Frankish taking of the land about AD 900 no longer bears up against the latest knowledge that has come to light. Archaeological finds now show that there had been human habitation here, some of it permanent, in earlier times. Furthermore, all digs undertaken at Roman sites have yielded Celtic finds as well, leading to the conclusion that the dale was settled as far back as the New Stone Age. In 1128, Auen had its first documentary mention in a confirmation document issued by Archbishop Adalbert of Mainz in connection with the building of Saint Willigis's Chapel, itself having been mentioned about 980 or 990. As early as 1044 and 1048, the village was listed in donation documents from Count Eberhard of Sponheim kept at the church at Sponheim (in Auen, the landhold in question amounted to four Huben). In 1203, Auen, along with its land and people, was donated as a payment to Sponheim Abbey, as the abbot had kept such good watch over