into the Lauter valley towards Kaiserslautern, and which also serves as a station on the former Glantalbahn (railway) now used recreationally by draisine riders. A great new building zone arose after 1945 in the part of town called "Auf Röth" between Bundesstraße 420 and Bundesstraße 270, which leads towards Grumbach. Also built here was a new school centre with a primary school, a Hauptschule and a Gymnasium. Commercial-industrial operations in Lauterecken are concentrated mainly in the town's north end on Bundesstraße 420. History Antiquity Already in prehistoric times, mankind was making its presence felt in the lands around what is now the town of Lauterecken as long ago as 5000 BC, leaving its traces in the form of extensive archaeological finds. Artefacts unearthed locally that come from the New Stone Age include a hatchet made of black stone found in the Wälderbusch in 1932, a flint arrowhead from Taubhauser Weg, where an adze was also unearthed, a fragment of a stone hatchet and a tool with an asymmetrical tip, both made of flat stone, and a fragment of a quartzite blade from the Schäferberg. Another from the Bronze Age has been a hoard from the Schäferberg near the town limit with Grumbach with a winged hatchet and two open armrings. Furthermore, there have been finds from the Iron Age or Hallstatt times, and two barrows that have never been explored, and whose origins have not been determined, also lie within town limits in the Jungenwald (forest). The Celts also left a refuge castle on the Marialskopf (mountain) near Medard. In Roman times, the area around the town was rather heavily settled, bearing witness to which are the extensive archaeological finds in Medard and Lohnweiler, for instance. Within Lauterecken's own limits in the late 19th century, a farmer discovered a Gallo-Roman villa rustica. As well, a Roman gravestone was once incorporated into a house wall in the town. Roman roads have been found on the heights around Lauterecken. Middle Ages Frankish times and Christianization After the Romans, who had occupied the area for more than three centuries, had withdrawn, the Franks began thrusting into the land, advancing their imperial realm well beyond and westwards into what is now France. After King of the Franks Clovis I had himself baptized in Reims, Christianization was introduced into the Lauterecken area with the creation of missionary centres such as the Hornbach Monastery (founded by