[gothic-l] Gothic Archaeology was Re: Whence the Eruli

[faltin2001]

--- In gothic-l at y..., Tore Gannholm <tore.gannholm at s...> wrote:
> >will yield. But I certainly won't hold my breath in
> >>  the meantime. Nothing is absolutely certain in this
> >>  world. But this is as certain as anything can be.*****
> >>
> >
> >Dear George
> >
> >I completely agree with you and I think when considering different
> >and opposing views it is useful to look at the history of the
> >research on a certain question. Below I provide a summary of an
> >article by J. Blischke, who provided an interesting overview of the
> >history of archaeological research and interpretation of the
problem
> >of Gothic migration. The article is called "Die Wielbark-Kultur und
> >die Problematik der Gotenwanderung", Archaeologische Informationen,
> >19/1&2, 1996, pp. 117-23.
> >
> >The author states that attempts in the late 19th and early 20th
> >century to identify the earliest continental seats of the Goths
> >started from the premises that the migration legend as set out in
the
> >Getica represented absolute truth. This premises was introduced to
> >archaeology by the germanist turned archaeologist Gustav Kossinna.
> >Hence all early attempts to identify the Goths on the continent
> >proceeded from  Scandinavian and in particular Gotlandic material
> >cultures. Researchers tried to find analogies between Scandinavian
> >and continental cultures in Pommern, West Prussia and East Prussia.
> >
> >Blischke explains that using this method Almgren (Mannus 5, 1913,
pp
> >147-51) was the first to be able to exclude the possibility that
the
> >Goths had come from Gotland. His findings were since confirmed by a
> >series of other scholars. But since research was still founded on
the
> >premises that the Getica was correct, the emphasis now switched to
> >Sweden, where the largely unresearched areas (in the early 20th
> >century) provided wide room for manoeuvre for scholars like Nerman
> >(Fornvaennen 18, 1923), Engel (Deutsche Ostforschung 1, 1942, pp
132-
> >78) and Oxenstierna (Mannus 73, 1945) to pursue attempts to
localise
> >Goths on the continent based on a Scandinavian 'Urheimat' origin.
> >
>
>
> Dirk,
> This is not quite true. Almgren could not find any emigration from
> Gotland in the first century AD.
> He could only find emigration from Gotland in the 3rd century BC
but
> no places in Poland at that time.
>
> Further archaeological research has proven that the Wilbark culture
> formed (as we have already stated on this forum) in the 3rd century
> BC.
>
> At that time there seems to have been very close contacts between
the
> Baltic coast areas including Gotland and the Wielbark original area.
>
> read also Gothic connections
>
http://w1.855.telia.com/~u85528681/Gothic_l/gothicconnectio_/default.h
tm
>
>
>
> Tore
> --


Tore,

Bierbrauer writes in 'Archaeologie und Geschichte der Goten vom 1-7
Jahrhundert', p. 80

"Die immer wieder von der aelteren archaeologischen Forschung -eben
wegen der spaeten Jordanes-Ueberlieferung - (fast krampfhaft)
gesuchten Verbindung zu Skandinavien lassen sich fuer unseren
Untersuchungsraum nich nachweisen, abgesehen von den erwaehnten
Ausnahmen, von denen die frueheste am Ende des 1. Jahrhunderts n.
Chr. neu aufkommende Grabsitte (Grabhuegel und Steinkreise) ohnehin
erst in eine Zeit faellt, als kontinentale Wohnsitze von Goten durch
die Schriftquellen laengst schon bezeugt sind."

My translation:

The older archaeological research has often (almost feverishly)
sought to prove a link between the Goths and Scandinavia - especially
because of the later Jordanes text. However, such a link can not be
demonstrated for this area, appart for some exceptions, which were
mentioned earlier, and of which the earliest set in only at the end
of the first century AD (new burial custom, grave mound with stone
circle) which dates to a time when the Goths on the continent have
long been attested in the written sources.

Dirk









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