Archaeology of Germanic tribes (Roman period)

While the Norwegian material has rarely been taken into consideration when discussing chamber graves from the Roman and Migration periods in a European context, there are indeed a great number of ‘oversized’ graves in Norway which should be very relevant to the chamber grave discussion. Among the 152 graves included in the present study, are both timbered chamber graves of types known from both South Scandinavia and the Germanic areas further south, but also some types that are particular to Norway. The latter includes the so-called hellekister; long, but relatively narrow stone cists, some of which are 7m long. It seems reasonable to regard the larger hellekister as a type of chamber grave, and any definition of what constitutes a chamber grave that starts off with excluding constructions made purely from stone, should be amended. Interestingly, some of the hellekister seems to be ‘hybrids’ incorporating elements of chamber graves of South Scandinavian type, first and foremost by having an inner timber construction. As is the case with the ‘normal’ chamber graves, the big hellekister are much more richly furnished than the average inhumation graves in the country. This points to the ‘oversized’ graves, whether they are made from stone or wood, or both, as being part of elite burial traditions in Roman and Migration period Norway.

Regionality, in the specific archaeological sense of the spatial distribution of differences in material culture, has not been a central concern for Iron Age specialists in Norway for several decades. But with its varied topography, its mountains, fjords, rivers and lakes, the country is an obvious place to look for such differences. In the present paper, I have turned my attention to burial customs. As one would expect, there is a myriad of local and regional rites to be found, and some traits might occur all over Norway, and indeed over the whole Germanic area. However, some of these ritual traditions might be limited to a single farm, or even to a single family in some cases, while others are probably associated with distinct tribes or other larger groups. But then there are some ritual traditions which cover substantially larger areas than nature-given settlement districts, but still have a rather limited distribution. I have tried to show that these larger areas concur with the major regions met with in later, written sources dealing with the origins of the Medieval kingdom of Norway.

The present paper deals with a minority of burials in Roman (B-C) and Migration period (D) Norway, namely the ones containing weapons. Its aim is two-folded: 1) to present an overview of this material to non-Norwegian colleagues, and 2) to discuss the significance of the weapon burial rite in its Scandinavian and North European context. Regarding the first, I intend to focus on the chronology, regional distribution and typology of burials with weapons. As for the latter, the emphasis will be on weapon graves as evidence both of the militarisation of barbarian society in general and more specific of warlike relations between the Roman Empire and the northern Germans, particularly the question of Scandinavian auxiliaries in the Roman army.

This thesis examines how elite milieus organised their centres c. 200–550 AD in the counties of Hordaland and Rogaland, western Norway. Here, the archaeological material has many indications of elite organisation, which have been widely debated throughout the history of research. Building on insights from previous research, a general model of centre organisation was sketched. In the model, elite milieus, central functions and centre indicators were seen as interrelated components of the centre. Methodologically, centre organisation was approached through centre indicators – status objects and grand buildings – interpreted as being closely related to interaction between elite milieus and to the central functions gathered at centres. Previous work by Myhre and Ringstad identified where the centres in western Norway were located. After critically analysing the methods in their studies, their results were validated.

Twelve of the identified centres in the study area were selected for detailed analysis of the local distribution of centre indicators. By using the general model of centre organisation and applying interpretations of the various centre indicators, the contexts for each of the centre localities were individually examined. The data set of all locations was then used to show general trends and variations in the organisation of the western Norwegian centres. The presence of sociopolitical, military, judicial and ritual central functions was identified at the examined centres. These functions were closely associated with the halls, retinues, thing sites and religion mentioned in contemporary or later written sources. Alliance networks between elite milieus at the centres have also been identified, best illustrated by alliances led by the Avaldsnes milieu in the late Roman period and by the Hauge-Tu milieu at Tinghaug in the Migration period.

This thesis contributes to a better understanding of how societies were organised in the late Roman and Migration periods, and renews our view of elite milieus and centres. It actualises a large number of western Norwegian centres, connecting these localities to the extensive research discourse on Scandinavian centres. Although the western Norwegian centres have special regional characteristics, sites like Avaldsnes, Hove, Etne, Hafrsfjord and Tinghaug clearly resemble contemporary centres in Scandinavia.

MA Thesis.
In the presented thesis is documented and analyzed a finding fund that was obtained from ARCHAIA Olomouc, o. p. s from Opava-Dolní dvůr and Opava-Kylešovice. Also were monitored finding circumstances of the individual contexts. In the area of interest was assessed settlement structure with regard to natural conditions. The material was compared with findings in the adjacent areas Przeworsk culture. All categories of artifacts have been carefully compiled with using the appropriate analyzes and technological procedures. The thesis is complemented by micropetrography analysis of ceramic thin sections.

During the German occupation of the Netherlands in the Second World War Prof. Dr. Jacob Friesen was stationed on Texel as an German officer in the role of Inselkommandant (Island Commander) of the Kriegsmarine (German Navy). The famous archaeologist did its duty and took the opportunity to dig test trenches in the Frisian/Frankish circular fortress of Den Burg, the main village on Texel. He concluded that the history  of Texel was deeply rooted in the Germanic  past.

Jak wyglądało życie twórców społeczności, której relikty nazywamy kulturą przeworską? Dzięki szerokopłaszczyznowym badaniom wykopaliskowym realizowanym przy okazji dużych inwestycji, np. budowach autostrad, można obecnie stwierdzić, że na przykład osady lokowano w sąsiedztwie rzek, szczególnie w miejscu ujścia mniejszych cieków do większych rzek, na terasach nadzalewowych. Wybór takiej lokalizacji był podyktowany dostępem do świeżej wody: podstawowym źródłem wody były nadal cieki wodne, mimo, że studnie różnych konstrukcji (z cembrowiną, z kłody, plecionki wiklinowej etc.) były już dobrze znane. Z drugiej strony cieki wodne stanowiły naturalne szlaki komunikacyjne. Poza tym występowało tu drewno (budulec i opał) oraz rudy darniowe - surowiec do wytopu żelaza, a można było także prowadzić uprawę ogrodową czy zbożową. Wybór terenów nadzalewowych wynikał z zagrożenia powodziami: okres subatlantycki, w którym istniała kultura przeworska, charakteryzował się zmiennością wilgotności i temperatur, co z pewnością prowadziło do okresowych wylewów rzek. Dopiero w III-IV w. dominować zaczęły osiedla zlokalizowane w wyższych partiach krajobrazu, a nawet zdołano wkroczyć na tereny podgórskie i górskie (dorzecze Popradu). Wykorzystywano tam zjawisko inwersji termicznej, dzięki któremu lepsze warunki dla rolnictwa panowały w partiach położonych powyżej dolin górskich. OSADY Osady miały bez wyjątku charakter otwarty, przeważnie z podziałem na część mieszkalną i gospodarczą. Tylko niekiedy - w przypadku dużych osad produkcyjnych - granica między strefami zacierała się. Układ budynków nie był jednolity: udokumentowana jest zabudowa luźna, ale także skupiska-zagrody. W zachodniej części kultury przeworskiej (Śląsk, Wielkopolska, centralna Polska) przeważało rozmieszczenie domostw wokół pustego placu. Na Mazowszu, w Małopolsce i na Podkarpaciu popularna była zabudowa rzędowa, zorientowana wzdłuż brzegów rzek; w takich przypadkach stosunkowo często stwierdza się brak podziału na strefę gospodarczą i mieszkalną. Być może zwiększona mobilność grup ludzkich w III i IV w. sprzyjała budowaniu osiedli mniej-szych niż w poprzednim okresie (nawet zagród jednodworczych). Obraz społeczności kultury przeworskiej przez lata budowany był w oparciu o wyniki badań cmentarzysk. Przyczyniło się to do nieuchronnych przeinaczeń. Powszechna była wizja społeczeństwa kultury przeworskiej jako ludzi strojnie odzianych, noszących kosztowne ozdoby, posługujących się cenną bronią i znających zaawansowane techniki kowalskie czy złotnicze, którzy zamieszkiwali w kontrastowo prymitywnych ziemiankach. Ostatnie lata przyniosły istotną zmianę tego obrazu.

Finds of coins from the Roman period in the cadastral area of Bratislava – Devín from the beginnings of archaeological excavations until the present day.

Summary of compilation of findings of Roman coins from the catastral territory Bratislava-Devín was important for better orientation in the collections of museums in which the coins are currently located. The compilation of the work also found some new information about existence of some coins, that were considered lost in the last work published by us. The findings from Devín also went through a deeper numismatic analysis, that brought further new knowledge about some pieces of coins. The list of coins also includes findings that have not been published since the archaeological excavations between 2000-2008, as well as a detailed published solidus of Theodosia II. about which we have only limited information in Slovak publications so far.

Nearest neighbor settlement relationships are methodically analyzed in network connection diagrams with the use of Delaunay triangulation in this GIS-based study. Probable routes by land and river are calculated with lost cost path analysis on the basis of digital surface models and compared with the local archaeological record.
In contrast to the neighboring Roman Empire, no centralized sites in the sense of transregionally significant settlements are definitively verifiable outside of the Limes Germanicus in the research area at the middle Main River. Some fortified hill forts, however, do exist. Starting in late antiquity these sites were temporarily occupied in times of internal and external conflict. Hill forts in the Babaricum were, without exception, sited on spurs at the Main or its tributaries. The course of the Main River constituted the primary transport route for the Romans into the Babaricum, although clear evidence of ship or harbor facilities has yet to be discovered for this period.
The well-known hierarchical settlement and road system in the Roman Empire is not apparent in the Babaricum although numerous sunken roads in multiple path networks were discernible. Precise dating of these features to the Roman Iron Age or Migration Period has not been possible due to heavy soil erosion in the vicinity. Particular stretches of this network of paths were only seasonally in use depending on weather conditions and soil moisture, and so it is not realistic to discuss roadways as usable year-round in the Babaricum as they are in the Roman Empire. Some of these paths were fortified, although the dating of these fortifications is not possible due to the continued use of some of these pathways into the Early Modern Period.
Many Germanic settlement sites were in continuous use throughout the Roman Iron Age and even into the Migration Period. With the beginning of the latter in the late 4th and 5th centuries AD, many settlements at the middle Main were abandoned and few new ones were founded. Due to difficulties in precise dating it is not possible to confirm whether settlement intensity, having continuously increased throughout the Roman Iron Age, also increased in the Early Migration Period. Through the identification of new sites, however, and comprehensive investigation of previously known ones from the Late Roman Iron Age, extensive changes to settlement structure in the Migration Period can be determined. The revolutionary processes of the Migration Period also led to drastic changes in settlement structure in other inner barbarian territories. The 5th to 6th centuries AD constituted a significant transitional phase in Germania libera.

The preliminary report summarizes several chronological and cultural
aspects of the archaeological finds from the settlement dated to the Early Roman Period in Mlékojedy. The settlement was almost entirely excavated in 1972–1976. The analysis of an extensive set of finds from the settlement from the Early Roman Period in Mlékojedy provides the basis for various research questions. This article summarizes the finds providing the main chronological, but also cultural and historical support, especially in relation to the Late La Tène settlement structure of Bohemia. The collection of the fibulas is chronologically correlated with the finds from the nearby necropolis in Tišice that is considered to be funeral area of the same community as in Mlékojedy. There is no doubt that the community based in Mlékojedy and burying their dead at the nearby necropolis in Tišice was of culturally foreign origin (Elbe-Germanic Großromstedt culture). Nevertheless, it seems that in a new and culturally different environment, the new settlers have been able to communicate and maintain certain ordinary relationships with the autochthon (Celtic) populations. This can be evidenced by small objects of foreign cultural origin (spoon-shaped fibulae, wheel-thrown pottery). The settling of this community in the immediate vicinity of an important communication hub on the Elbe may be evidence of the gradually declining of the indigenous Late La Tène settlement, which disappears in the decades around the middle of the 1st century BC or transforms into a new culture under the influence of intense migratory movements and historical events. However, before the publication of all sources from Mlékojedy and especially other similar localities in the Czech Republic, these are still rather theoretical hypotheses. In the future, emphasis should be placed primarily on the analysis of the development of settlements in the centuries around the turn of the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD in specific regions. In this way, it will hopefully be possible to observe different variants of cultural and settlement changes, which may be somewhat different in different places.

The religion of the ancient Germanic people is largely unknown to modern historians. It exerts signs of being the predecessor to the later Norse religion, as well as the successor to the proto-Indo-European religion. Using ancient sources, etymology, and archaeology this paper seeks to uncover what is known of the early Germanic religion during the Pre-Roman Iron Age, roughly from 500 B.C - 100 A.D.

Finds of the rotary querns from context of Roman period in Bohemia and Moravia. From Bohemia till now 24 pieces of rotary querns from 14 Roman and Migration period settlements are known. In Moravia till now are known 121 pieces and fragments of rotary querns from 12 localities. Translated article is necessary to understand as the first comprehensive attempt of studies in problematics of use Germanic rotary querns in Bohemia and Moravia. Results at the given moment are general and preliminary - not all known finds of rotary querns with the corresponding documentation were revisited and lot of them are waiting for petrographic analysis. English Resume.

Résumé
Du Rhin au Plateau lorrain, au tournant de notre ère, les auteurs latins présentent des situations et des évolutions
territoriales et ethniques complexes et souvent mal comprises et se basent sur des sources indirectes. D’après les
textes, les territoires rauraque et médiomatrique connaissent avant notre ère des bouleversements engendrés par
l’arrivée de nouvelles populations germanique et italique. Face à ces témoignages, que nous montrent les traces
archéologiques ? Confirment-elles les écrits, sont-elles muettes ou montrent-elles un scénario différent ? L’objectif
de cet article est de mettre en lumière de nouvelles découvertes et l’apport des nouvelles approches archéologiques
dans la problématique des migrations qui ont lieu au tournant de notre ère dans la grande région. Ainsi, nous proposons une présentation des données archéologiques récentes permettant d’observer l’évolution des « groupes
culturels » et/ou des territoires des Rauraques, des Triboques, des Médiomatriques et les bouleversements apportés
par l’arrivée des Romains le long du Rhin.

Rauriker, Mediomatriker, Triboker und Römer: Völkerwanderungen, Eroberungen, territoriale
Veränderungen und kulturelle Einflüsse zwischen der elsässischen Tiefebene und der lothringischen
Hochebene zwischen dem 2. Jahrhundert vor und dem 2. Jahrhundert nach Chr.

An der Wende zu unserem Zeitalter umreißen römische Autoren vom Rhein bis zum lothringischen Plateau komplexe und oft schlecht verstandene territoriale und ethnische Konstellationen und Entwicklungen und stützen sich
dabei auf indirekte Quellen. Ihre Texte besagen, dass die Territorien der Rauriker und Mediomatriker vor unserer
Zeitrechnung von Umbrüchen gekennzeichnet waren, die durch den Zuzug neuer germanischer und italischer Bevölkerungsgruppen hervorgerufen wurden. Was zeigen uns archäologische Spuren im Hinblick auf diese Aussagen?
Bestätigen sie die Schriftquellen, bleiben sie stumm, oder zeigen sie ein anderes Szenario? Das Ziel dieses Vortrags
besteht darin, neue Funde und den Beitrag neuer archäologischer Ansätze hinsichtlich der Migrationsproblematik zu
beleuchten, die am Übergang zu unserer Zeitrechnung in der Großregion stattfand. So präsentieren wir neue archäologische Daten, die es ermöglichen, die Entwicklung von "Kulturgruppen" sowie Veränderungen der Territorien der
Rauriker, Triboker und Mediomatriker zu beobachten ebenso wie die Umwälzungen, die die Ankunft der Römer
entlang des Rheins mit sich brachte.

Mit der neuen Reihe „Das Thorsberger Moor“ unter der Herausgeberschaft von Claus von Carnap-Bornheim, in der nun Band 1 und Band 4 erschienen sind, veröffentlicht das Zentrum für Baltische und Skandinavische Archäologie moderne Untersuchungen zu dem bekannten gleichnamigen Opferplatz.
Der Fundplatz liegt im nördlichen Schleswig-Holstein und gehört zu einer Reihe von Fundplätzen im nördlichen Europa, in denen in den ersten Jahrhunderten nach Christus in verschiedenen kultischen Deponierungen die Ausrüstungen, Waffen und Pferdegeschirre germanischer Krieger niedergelegt wurden.

Das Thorsberger Moor, Band 1.
„Die Pferdegeschirre. Germanische Zaumzeuge und Sattelgeschirre als Zeugnisse kriegerischer Reiterei im mittel- und nordeuropäischen Barbaricum“
von Nina Lau.

Das Thorsberger Moor ist der Opferplatz von Heeresausrüstungen im Barbaricum, an dem sich die größte Anzahl von Pferdegeschirrgarnituren fand. Sie gehören zeitlich in die beiden großen Deponierungen in der ersten Hälfte des 3. Jahrhunderts n. Chr. und um etwa 300 n. Chr. Die Pferdegeschirre lassen eine Rekonstruktion von Ausrüstungen der Kriegspferde zu, die im germanischen Heer dieser Zeit zum Einsatz kamen, aber auch der Reitweise germanischer Krieger. Die aufwendige Gestaltung und die detailreichen, aufeinander abgestimmten Verzierungen der zahlreichen, einzelnen Bestandteile der Garnituren deuten darauf hin, dass es sich bei den Pferdegeschirren um Auftragsarbeiten wohlhabender Angehöriger der gesellschaftlichen und militärischen Elite handelte. Die Ausrüstungen der Pferde aus dem Thorsberger Moor lassen deutliche Bezüge zu römischen Zaumzeugen und Sattelgeschirren erkennen, was mit der Entwicklung der germanischen Pferdegeschirre auf Basis römischer und keltischer Vorbilder zusammenhängt. Diese Entwicklung, die auf einer neuen Typologie der Zaumzeuge mit Zügelketten der Römischen Kaiserzeit im gesamten Barbaricum beruht, ist zusätzlich zu der Analyse der Pferdegeschirre aus dem Thorsberger Moor Gegenstand der Publikation.

Court sites are collections of houses oriented around an open middle field. These are found in the Norwegian regions bordering to the North Sea. The discussed sites in south-western Norway were mainly used in the Roman and Migration periods. During the last decade, a scholarly consensus has identified court sites as thing sites. Although sources like Tacitus’ Germania mentions leaders at thing sites, there have been only few attempts to trace the presence of leaders at the court sites. At the contemporary Eketorp ring-fort at Öland (Sweden), the house of a primus inter pares has previously been identified. Based on the hypothesis that similar houses existed at the court sites, special »leader houses« were identified at three court sites in Norway. These houses indicate the presence of leaders at the court sites, hereby challenging a dominant view of the sites as »egalitarian« and opening up for new interpretations.

V roce 2006 bylo v rámci testovací fáze projektu prediktivního modelování (Ústav archeologie a muzeologie FF MU) zjištěny stopy germánských aktivit v blízkosti již dříve objeveného římského krátkodobého tábora v Charvátské Nové Vsi. Zároveň byly zpřesněny polohové informace o táboře prostřednictvím pedologických sondáží, které poskytly podklad pro sestavení jednoduchého profilu příkopu tábora.


In year 2006 during the testing phase of a predictive model project (Institute of Archaeology and Museology, Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University) were encountered traces of the Germanic activities in vicinity of the Roman temporary camp in Charvátská Nová Ves. Using the method of geological probing it was possible to spatially specify exact position of the temporary camp, discovered previously during the aerial survey. The probing also provided information for buildup of simple profile of temporary camp ditch.

The Vandals is a Germanic tribe that not only migrated across Europe and the Roman empire during the first half of the first millenium AD but also played a part in Early 20th century geopolitics - besides become a word of shame. This paper follows all three threads of the amazing and turbulent destiny of this Germanic tribe, and examines the archaeological evidence.

Excavated in the 1990s, the site of Buschow 8, Havelland region, Federal State of Brandenburg, Germany, until recently had primarily been known for its Roman to Migration Period wells.
This Article gives a short summary of the author's PhD-thesis, in which he was able to show, that the site had been in use several times in the course of Pre- and Protohistory.

The article is meant as a commentary to the reference in Tacitus (Germania 45,3) to 'fustis', i.e., a non-metal trauma weapon of the Balt Aestii who have been identified with the Dollkeim-Kovrovo Culture. The word 'fustis' was understood by the Romans as a straight or a wavy stick. From the surviving Roman soldiers' gravestones, the fustis appears to have been used as a coercive measure, in restraining an unruly crowd or during tax collecting. The written and the archaeological sources are analysed for evidence on the use of cudgels/clubs from the metal age. Examples are invoked from ethnography of cudgel use in hunting and combat (from a distance and at close range). The Balt 'fustis' has been interpreted also as a battle axe. The author challenges this view stressing that in writing of the fustis Tacitus makes it plain that it was not made of metal. An argument is made for the use of 'fustis' as a hunting cudgel, something that is confirmed in the West Balt Barrow Culture, the predecessor of the Dollkeim-Kovrovo Culture. One explanation is that when Tacitus wrote his account the latter was still at an early stage when conservative cultural features presumably were still strong; alternatively the information about 'fustis' is an archaism drawn from the period of the West Balt Barrow Culture.

Stone circles registered in early 1920s in Czarcie Kościoły (English: Devil's Churches) at Osieck, situated at the high right-bank terrace of the Vistula near Garwolin, in south-eastern Mazovia are discussed. The constructions themselves do not survived until now but thanks to archival drawings it was possible to connect them with unknown Przeworsk Culture grave-field from the Early Roman Period.

Gravfeltet på Gjeite ved Levanger er ”klassisk mark i norsk arkeologi,” som Norsk kulturråd uttrykte det da feltet ble innstilt til en særlig status blant Trøndelags mange fornminner for snart 50 år siden. De monumentale gravhaugene på Gjeite har gitt funn som vitner om de gravlagtes spesielle status gjennom flere hundre år – fra romersk jernalder (Kr.f.-350 e.Kr.) til vikingtid (800-1000 e.Kr.).

The jugs with tubular handle are a quite peculiar type of vessel with a rather unpractical combination of handle and spout. They are dated to c. 100–600 AD and found scattered around in Northern and Central Europe. There are many different interpretations of the vessels. The island Gotland is a region where the jugs are common. Some of the stamped decors on the Gotlandic jugs might explain the symbolic background to these vessels. Stamps in form of birds, feather-like and wavy patterns may be connected to the myth about how man and the gods acquired the mead of wisdom. Even the drilling of a tunnel through the handle can be seen as a ritual recreation of one of the most central myths in Norse Religion.

Throat Singing Vikings: A new translation of the account of Ibrâhîm ibn Ya`qûb al-Tartushi and his visit to the Schleswig area in the 9th century, and his observations of a form of singing that exhibited a 'Humming' sound from the throat that could possibly be a form of throat singing. This new translation is compared against various older translations in an attempt to gain a better understanding of Al-Tartushi's original account.

Author: Noel Braucher