The question of "who" built and used the castle building before it was used as a care palace and official residence of the Ettal caretakers has not yet been answered. A document from 1324 proves that Ludwig the Bavarian had rights to the castle. It is therefore assumed that a Wittelsbach bailiff may have lived in the castle until the end of the 14th century. Two extensive archaeological excavations that accompanied the respective reconstruction work on the castle building in the early 1990s and between 2009 and 2011, however, revealed some insights into the everyday life of the residents. The finds from the 13th century included numerous ceramic shards. A large double-handled bowl was the first helpful clue: similar pieces from that period are known from castles and wealthy urban patrician households, while they were missing in rural settlements. Also noteworthy are the shards of a glass cup, as glass finds from the first half of the 13th century were previously very rare in Germany. In the first 150 to 170 years after the castle was founded, a large part of the waste remained in the castle courtyard and over time grew into a considerable layered package: ovens, large bowls, the comparatively high proportion of game among the animal bones and, above all, the glass finds also indicate the courtly lifestyle of the castle's inhabitants. Even in the 14th century, only nobles, clergy and wealthy townspeople could afford glass vessels because they still had to be imported to a large extent. Unusual for a castle is the almost complete absence of weapons (apart from two crossbow bolts), horseshoes and other riding accessories in the finds. Many finds are also connected to renovations that the Ettal keepers Ludwig Götschl and Kaspar Freislich commissioned at the beginning of the 17th century. The ceramics are now almost exclusively glazed (sometimes even on both sides). Large, green glazed flower pots with ornaments suggest a small baroque castle garden. The finds mentioned and not exhibited here can be viewed in the “Murnau Castle” section on the second floor of the west wing.