[gothic-l] Re: Heruls and Archaeology

[faltin2001]

--- In gothic-l at y..., george knysh <gknysh at y...> wrote:
>
> --- faltin2001 <dirk at s...> wrote:
>  bi-ritualism is also
> > observable in the
> > Niemberger and Grossbadegaster Gruppe in middle
> > Germany. Have you
> > heard anything about this custom of placing the dead
> > on their face in
> > the grave and other 'unusual' positions.
>
> *****GK: Sorry for the delay in replying. Thousands of
> 150-450 AD Chernyakhiv graves have been analyzed in
> recent years by Soviet and Ukrainian archaeologists.
> Apparently what you or your source refer to as "on
> their face" inhumation burials were very rare. (Ukr.
> arch. describe these as "on their bellies" burials).



Hi George,

in the article by Prof. Berthold Schmidt on Thuringian graves they are
also called 'on the belly-burials' instead of 'on the face', the
latter was my own 'free' translation of 'Graeber in Bauchlage'.




> Only two locations seemed to have them (Maslove,
> Kompanijtsi) both located close to the Dnipro/Dnepr
> about halfway between contemporary Kyiv/Kiev and
> Dnipropetrovsk. They are assumed to have "Sarmatian"
> roots, but the reasons for the position remain
> obscure.

Interesting!


I have no specific information on hand about
> burial practices in inhumation graves of Transylvania.


The article that I quoted from stated that the movement of these
burial types to Thuringia can be traced via cemetaries in Silesia, the
 names of which I will have to look up again.



> BTW were "face/belly" burials also found in Silesia?


I am not sure, as stated above Schmidt wrote that the spread of the
carriers of the Western Chernyakhovsk and Sintana de Mures cultures to
Thuringia is documented by cemetaries in Silesia.



> What percentage (approx.) of the Thuringian burials
> were of this type?=== As for "unusual" inhumation
> postures.


I am not sure if he gives a percentage, but will have to check the
source.



In Ukraine the overwhelming majority of
> people were buried on their backs, stretched out,
> occasionally with legs crossed plus other minor
> things. Extremely rare were not just the "belly/face"
> burials, but "elevated knee" burials, or "couched on
> the side" burials.


Exactly, these were the other burial types recorded in the Niemberger
group and the Grossbadegaster group in Germany. Schmidt definitely
mentioned the 'couched on the side-burials'.




> Archaeologists tend to classify
> inhumation burials here not so much by the posture of
> the cadavers (since it is overwhelmingly the same) as
> by the orientation of the head (north? west?) and by
> the type of grave shaft plus inventory.******


Schmidt also writes about the general orientation of the graves in
these two groups in Germany as beeing indicative of Western
Chernyakhovsk and Sintana de Mures culture. If I remember correctly
graves are positioned in different directions.  He also speaks of
'bi-ritualism', but I can provide more detail tomorrow.

cheers
Dirk


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