[gothic-l] Re: Digest Number 229

Tue Mar 13 17:00:06 UTC 2001

--- In gothic-l at y..., Ingemar Nordgren <ingemar.nordgren at e...> wrote:
> gothic-l at y... skrev:
> > 
> > 
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> > ------------------------------------------------------------------
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> > 
> > There are 2 messages in this issue.
> > 
> > Topics in this digest:
> > 
> >       1. Goths, Heruls or Alamanns? The Phalheim Horse Warriors
> >            From: dirk at s...
> >       2. Eruli
> >            From: Bertil Häggman <mvk575b at t...>
> > 
> > 
______________________________________________________________________
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> > 
______________________________________________________________________
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> > 
> > Message: 1
> >    Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2001 11:22:35 -0000
> >    From: dirk at s...
> > Subject: Goths, Heruls or Alamanns? The Phalheim Horse Warriors
> > 
> > Hello all,
> > 
> > the Nuremberg Germanic National Museum is starting an exhibition
> > about the horse warriors found in the cemetary of Phalheim 
(Ellwangen
> > South Germany) in the early 20th century. This cemetary (5th to 
7th
> > century) yielded the remains of a considerable number of Germanic
> > horsemen, who were burried with weapons, shields and highly 
decorated
> > riding equipment. The interesting thing about the artefacts 
recovered
> > in these graves is that their decorations, style and manufacture 
are
> > almost exclusively East-Germanic - East Roman/Byzantine and
> > Mediterranean. Some Archaelologists have stated that the Phalheim
> > warriors were the arch-typical East-Germanic horsemen. This has 
long
> > given rise to interpretations arguing that these were in fact 
Goths
> > or/and Heruls. However, W. Menghin has argued that the Phalheim
> > warriors were Alamanns posted their by the Franks to defend an
> > important East-West connection of the Merowingian Empire. At any
> > rate, the exhibition is on until July 15 and a detailed Katalog is
> > also available from the Museum.
> > 
> > cheers
> > Dirk
> > 
> 
> Hello Dirk!
> 
> When you  write Nuremberg is that another place than Nürnberg or 
is  it
> the same? I never  heard of it. Could you please give me the direct
> adress to the authorities that I may contact them, please!
> 
> Kindly 
> Ingemar

Hello Ingemar,

yes, Nuremberg is the English name of Nuernberg (with Umlaut, exactly 
as you wrote it). The address of the National Germanic Museum is:

Germanisches Nationalmuseum
Kornmarkt 1

90 402 Nuernberg

The catalogue was praised as being very well made and detailed, so I 
guess it is worth getting. 

I wish I could remember the source for an interesting article that I 
read about the Phalheim horse warrior graves. The article was 
interesting, because it attacked the equation of a typical East 
Germanic archaeological assemblage with an ethnic/linguistic group.

The article basically blamed the earlier ethnic attribution of the 
Phalheim warriors as East-Germanics (Goths and or Heruls) on an old 
and outdated school of archaeological ethnic-ascription. The author 
stated that ethnic ascription in archaeology makes the mistake of 
selecting certain elements in an archaeological assemblage (in the 
Phalheim case the fact that almost all artefacts and decorations were 
of East-Germanic/Byzantine and Mediterranean style and manufacture) 
as indicative of a certain ethnic group and equated 
this 'archaeologically-defined' ethnicity to an ethinic-linguistic 
group group named by historical sources. 

The author emphasised that characteristical artefacts such as the 
East Germanic/Byzantine objects and decorations could have been 
transfered without the transfer of any  any sense of ethnical 
identity. The author stated that W. Menghin has re-interpreted the 
Phalheim warriors as Alamannic, (despite of the exclusively East-
Germanic artefacts), who were posted to the Ellwangen area to protect 
an important East-West link of the Merowingian Empire. 

While this view of archaeological interpretation has clear 
advantages, I guess it also means that it is virtually impossible for 
archaeology to identify or confirm the existence of certain ethnic 
groups outside the strict boundaries postulated for this ethnic group 
by contemporary historical sources.

On the other hand, I suppose there are cases were archaeological 
finds can indicate the presence of a certain ethnic/linguistic group. 
For example in the case of artefacts that are indicative of certain 
customs associated with some certainty to an ethnic/linguistic group. 
Thus, the recent excavation of the rich 'Alamannic' Lauchheim 
cemetary has yielded both Ostrogothic and Langobardic artefacts. The 
Ostrogothic artefacts can be accounted for by trade, but also and 
most significantly by marriage of noble Gothic women to noble 
Alamanns. 

However, the Langobardic fibulae were found in graves with so called 
gold-leaf crosses and other 'Arian' motives. This combination of 
Langobardic fibulae and Langobardic burrial customs led to the 
interpretation that there could have been a certain Langobardic elite 
present not only in modern Bavaria, but also further west on 
Alamannic territory. 

Oops, sorry for rumbling on...

cheers
Dirk

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