[gothic-l] Re: Heruls and Archaeology

[faltin2001]

--- In gothic-l at y..., george knysh <gknysh at y...> wrote:
>
> --- dirk at s... wrote:
> >
> > Prof. Berthold Schmidt found (Studien zur
> > Sachsenforschung No. 13,
> > 1999) that in the aftermath of the arrival of the
> > Huns in south
> > eastern Europe, carriers of the Gothic Chernyahkovsk
> > culture and the
> > Sintana de Mures Culture moved into Middle-Germany.
> > According to
> > Schmidt, this constituted a migration that is not
> > attested in the
> > historical sources, but which was nonetheless of
> > substantial size. It
> > led in the last quarter of the 4th century to the
> > creation of the so
> > called 'Niemberger Gruppe' and 'Grossbadegaster
> > Gruppe' in middle
> > Germany, which is a direct continuation of the
> > Sintana de Mures and
> > western Chernyakhovsk cultures.


Hi George,

thanks for the information, that is very interesting. I was quite
surprised that new research can show such a strong influence of the
Chernyakovsk and Sintana de Mures cultures in middle-Germany, even
leading to the creation of separate archaeological groups. I find it
particularly interesting that these people may have played a
significant role in the formation of the Thuringian kingdom. Overall,
we tend to count only migration movements that are attested in written
sources, but this research shows that a significant part of the East
Germanic people fled from the Huns in a more northernly direction as
well. Do you know which tribes are seen as the carriers of the Western
Chernyakhovsk and Sintana de Mures cultures in the late 4th century?

cheers,
Dirk





>
> ******GK: Thank you very much for this information. I
> have been a long time student of the Chernyakhivs'ka
> kultura (as it is known in Ukraine, from the village
> of Chernyakhiv south of Kyiv/Kiev), and can place this
> in perspective. This culture was not an "ethnic"
> phenomenon, and came to be associated with many
> different groups, including the Goths. It emerged at
> the beginning of the 1rst c. AD, after the Roman limes
> was moved across the Danube with the conquest of
> Dacia, and developed under the strong influence of the
> Roman provincial culture. The earliest group
> evidencing "Chernyakhiv" traits were actually the
> Geto-Dacians and Bastarnae of contemporary Moldavia.
> Then it spread to the Scytho-Sarmatians of the Black
> Sea coastline, and the Slavs of the upper Dnister.
> When the Goths and other Germanic peoples arrived on
> the territory of contemporary Ukraine (the influx
> began in the last years of the 2nd c. AD and
> accelerated in the 3rd c. as group after group pressed
> southeastward along the Bug and Boh rivers) they had
> their own culture, the so-called Welbark culture,
> which survived for generations, producing many
> intermediary "Welbark-Chernyakhiv" sites. By the 4th
> c. the Germanic peoples as well as the Alans settled
> further east beyond the Dnipro/Dnepr were fully
> integrated into "Chernyakhiv". As one can imagine
> there was a great deal of cross-cultural borrowing and
> influence. When the Goths arrived, for instance, they
> practised the rite of cremating their dead with little
> exception. Under the influence of the Sarmatian and
> Alans some of them began to switch to the rite of
> inhumation. It would be interesting to know the
> proportion of cremation-inhumation sites in Thuringia
> after 376 AD. Another custom which this population
> seems to have adopted is that of skull deformations.
> This originated among the Alans and was subsequently
> practised by some Huns (and now, we are told, by some
> Germans too). One further caveat about ethnicity. The
> political system which existed in the eastern
> territories where the Goths settled led to increasing
> clout by Gothic (and Gepidic) clans. Under the impact
> of the Huns the outflow was not exclusively Gothic,
> but included many other subordinated elements (esp.
> Scytho-Sarmatian, Dacian and Alanic: cf. Alatheus and
> Saphrax of the 376 story), which were progressively
> integrated into Gothic and other Germanic groups but
> may have retained their distinct identity in very
> early post-migration times. In similar fashion, the
> Goths who remained in the East["Reithgotaland"]
> (except those of the Crimea, though they too were
> hellenized and turkicised later) were absorbed by the
> locals esp. the Slavs. Again this information about
> Chernyakhiv-Sintana de Mures in Thuringia is
> fascinating. I had always wondered if any evidence
> existed of Chernyakhiv outflow westward with Goths and
> others. Now it seems this is proved.******
> >
> > Apart from decorations etc. one of the
> > characteristics of this culture
> > are the way in which bodies were placed in the
> > graves. Thus, one way
> > was to place them on their face. This influx of East
> > Germanic people
> > may have been significant in the Thuringian
> > ethnogenesis. The
> > Thuringians are first mentioned in 400AD. From the
> > 420s/30s actual
> > conflict with Huns is demonstrated by the grave
> > material in Thuringia.
> > Burials of the Niemberger Gruppe show frequent
> > battle wounds including
> > nomadic arrowheads in the wounds. From 430AD the
> > area came under
> > Hunnic domination, with nomadic weaponry and
> > decorations appearing in
> > rich graves. Also, the custom of artificial skull
> > deformations becomes
> > very widespread in Thuringia. Some 50% of the
> > artificially deformed
> > skull show 'mongolic' features. The dating was made
> > possible by the
> > discovery of a 20-year old Germanic woman, who died
> > in about 450AD and
> > who's skull had been deformed in early childhood.
> > The Hunnic influence
> > starts to fade after the battle at the Nedao, but
> > artificial skull
> > deformations remain in custom until the first third
> > of the 6th
> > century.
> >
>
>
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