[gothic-l] Migration theories

[Bertil Häggman]

Dirk,

One mistake does not make Prokopios totally
unreliable. Placing the Vandals at the Sea of Azov
is not so good (could you give the reference
for the quote?) but describing the Alans as Goths
is not uncommon, as they were allied.

The Eruli remigration description of Prokopios
is detailed and geographically well put together.
It seems very reliable. I recently published an article
claiming that Eruli steppe influenced remains in southern
Scandinvia due to the Eruli. I think I quoted Prokopios on the Eruli
there. We had a very extensive discussion on the
Eruli som time ago, which is available in the Gothic L
archive. Will send the Prokopios Eruli quote from
that article.

Of course there is little archaeological proof of the
migration of the Goths from Scandinavia. There is,
as you write, much more evidence in Poland (I am
referring you to _Schaetze der Ostgoten (SDO)_ (1995), which have
detailed descriptions of Gothic archaelogical finds
close to Maslomecz southeast of Lublin.

On Gothiskandza in Poland, so SDO, is there a connection
with the Goths:

"Seit laengerer Zeit verbinden die Archaeologen eindeutig die
Wielbark-Kultur mit den Goten. Diese Kultur wurde nach dem Graeber-
feld von Malbrok-Wielbark, Woiw, Elblag, benant, das in den
dreissiger Jahren von Reinhard Schindler erforscht und groessen-
teils veroeffentlicht wurde." (p. 26). More later.

Gothically

Bertil


> I agree, it cannot be more than a theory. However, Procopius wrote
> many things which we know are wrong. See the example below:
>
> " ...Now the Vandals, dwelling about the Maeotic Lake [the Sea of
> Azov], since they were pressed by hunger, moved to the country of the
> Germans, who are now called Franks, and the river Rhine, associating
> with themselves the Alans, a Gothic people..."   (Vandals are not
> attested at the Sea of Azov and the Alans were no gothic people, I
> think)
>
> The speaker at the British Museum, based her assessment of the Gothic
> migration from Gotland/South Sweden on the lack of archaelogical
> evidence for this migration and the migration to the Black Sea on the
> relative abundance of archaeological evidence... However, with
> regards
> to the Eruli, I guess cohesiveness of a small people should also not
> be underestimated. In fact the speaker herself mentioned examples in
> history were a migrated people showed remarkable degrees of
> cohesiveness over a long period of time, like the Siebenbuerger
> Sachsen in Transilvania, who flourished for some 900 years without
> blending into the native population....



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