Emigration av Goths

[Tore Gannholm]

On Jan 29, 2006, at 3:24 PM, Wilhelm Otto wrote:

> Thanks a lot for all the answers to my question of gothic  
> emigration from
> Scandinavia. I have now read Kaliff’s book and have been pondering the
> situation. One solution could be to run Heathers argument to the  
> bottom line
> and see if it stands firm or has to be adjusted.
>
>
>
> Kaliff mentions a lot of contacts across the Baltic and takes up  
> some very
> interesting issues. But I find Heathers crucial question to be one of
> timing. His argument runs as follows:
>
> The Gotho-Gepidan culture was once identifiable on the basis of seven
> elements. These were inhumation burial,

Hi!

This element is present in Gotland

Read Stenberger   http://www.stavgard.com/romaniron/stenberger_/ 
forromerskj_/aldstajarnalder/default.htm

"Övergångstiden mellan brons- och järnålder - avsnittet ca 600-400 f  
Kr, delvis sammanfallande med den keltiska maktens uppstigande i  
Europa - är
som tidigare sagts svagt belyst genom fornfynd från det svenska  
fastlandet. "

"Annorlunda förhåller det sig på Gotland. Där har på senare tid den  
arkeologiska aspekten undergått stora förändningar. Några lösfynd var  
tidigare kända
därifrån, huvudsakligen bygelnålar av brons och järn ävensom ett  
mindre antal
brand- och skelettgravar med liknande nålar. Dessa skelettgravar  
väckte tidigt
uppmärksamhet, eftersom samtida sådana inte var kända från andra håll i
Norden. Genom omfattande fältundersökningar av Erik Nylén har de  
gotländska fynden ökats i anmärkningsvärd grad och en mängd nya  
brand- och
skelettgravar tillkommit. Jordandet har inte varit en  
undantagsföreteelse utan
ett allmänt tillämpat gravskick på ön under denna tid. De döda har  
nedlagts
i kistor av sten, ibland kanske av trä, under flat mark eller täckta  
av flacka,
runda, ofta omfångsrika stenrösen. Vid slutet av bronsåldern har  
alltså jordandet återinförts på Gotland och tillämpats under  
åtminstone hela övergångstiden
för att sedan försvinna igen, s. 334. Först vid den romerska  
järnålderns början
åtenvänder bruket på nytt, denna gång genom inflytanden från  
germankulturerna på kontinenten. Därefter vidmakthölls det under den  
följande förhistoriska tiden vid sidan av likbränningen för att vid  
kristendomens införande bli
allenarådande."

It is quite clear that inhumation was extensively practised in  
Gotland before in the Gepido-Gothian culture.

Tore


> a lack of weapons in graves, and the
> use of stone circles and standing stones in cemeteries, pear shaped  
> metal
> pendants, serpent-headed bracelets, S-shaped clasps and a  
> particular type of
> pottery decoration, which combines roughening with polishing.  
> (Heather page
> 14)
>
> This Gotho-Gepidan culture was established both in Scandinavia as  
> well as
> south of the Baltic around the Vistula. This is taken to be supporting
> Jordane’s history of emigration. But Heather claims that to do so,  
> these
> seven elements has to be older in Scandinavia than south of the  
> Baltic. This
> puts new demands on dating. Heather says that in the latest  
> decennials a new
> and better school has come forward. The argument runs as follows:
>
> The appearance of more-developed types of an object can be reasonably
> presumed to be subsequent to simpler, therefore earlier, forms.  
> eaTHERS In
> recent years, the systematic analysis of an ever-increasing body of  
> material
> has allowed the typologies of a whole series of objects to be  
> defined with
> much greater security. But any individual type of brooch or buckle  
> might
> have been adapted at different times in different areas, or,  
> indeed, or
> deliberately retained as antiques. Dating has come to rely,  
> therefore, not
> on individual objects but on groups of them. (Heather page 19)
>
> Using this better system of dating Heather seems to be confident to  
> claim
> that all the elements defining the Gotho-Gepidan culture are later in
> Scandinavia but one. The stone circles are older in Scandinavia. The
> conclusion seems to be that there has been no emigration from  
> Scandinavia to
> the Vistula discharge into the Baltic.
>
>
>
> Kaliff thinks that there has been a few boatloads going south. The
> definition of a migration is not clear cut. There may well be old  
> stories of
> a few boatloads going south as Jordane’s history says. They do not  
> seem to
> be as important as to shape the Gothic culture. This raises the  
> question:
> What is the criterion for an emigration?
>
> This is at least a start.
>
> Wilhelm
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



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