[gothic-l] Gothic connections

[Tore Gannholm]

You can order it from the University of Uppsala

www.arkeologi.uu.se/publications/opia/gothicabstract.htm

A small tip if you want to find this: go to      www.google.com
In this case write "Gothic connections" and you will find the sajt straight
away.

Tore


>Where could I buy this book?
>
>Thanks,
>Oskar
>
>
>
>> I can recommend a new book "Gothic connections, Contacts between eastern
>> Scandinavia and the southern Baltic coast 1000 BC - 500 AD" by Anders
>> Kaliff   ISBN 91-506-1482-7 Department of Archaeology and Ancient History,
>> Uppsala University  Uppsala 2001
>>
>> "The subject of contacts between Scandinavia and the surrounding world
>> during the Bronze Age has often been discussed in archaeological research
>> of later years. Such contacts can be traced in different phenomena and
>> objects: the urn-burial custom, imported bronzes and the bronze import in
>> general, certain types of pottery, certain house types as well as more
>> outstanding und unique objects. The evidence of contacts especially with
>> the Lusatian (Lausitz) culture has been generally observed and is the
>> matter for an ongoing discussion...................The contacts between
>> Bronze Age Gotland and the Lusatian culture were noticed already by H.
>> Hansson in Gotlands bronsålder (1927). There is also evidence of much more
>> long distant contacts, for instance between Scandinavia and south-east
>> Europe, and with the eastern Mediterranean and Anatolia. Other contacts
>> could be shown with the Villanova culture of Italy and cultural groups in
>> central Europe. This cultural exchange has been interpreted as the result
>> of a well established network of contacts, probably held together by
>> members of certain influential social groups in different cultures (e.g.
>> Larsson 1997; Kristiansen 1998)"
>> ..............
>> "The ethnic affinities of the Lusatian people have long been of dispute and
>> the ethnic interpretation of the Lusatian culture has varied much over
>> time. Germanic, Thracian, Illyrian and Slavic people have been seen as
>> carriers of the Lusatian material culture."
>> ...........
>> "The Lusatian culture in general is characterized especially by its burial
>> custom, with cremation burials in urns, often with deposited vessels beside
>> the urn, and pottery with special design. Even if it is not possible to
>> find an overall definiton in general, it is nevertheless possible to find
>> elements that distinguish it from other Urnfield groups. For the typical
>> Lusatian pottery Jan Dabrowski has suggested the term "Pottery of Lusatian
>> style" ("Stil der Lausitzer Keramik"), in the same manner as the term
>> "Hallstatt-style" is used. Cultural groups, with pottery fitting into this
>> defintion are found within the South Scandinavian Bronze Age culture, as
>> well as within the so called Knoviz-Milavce and Wysocko cultures, in the
>> eastern Lusatian periphery of Pomerania. (Dabrowski 1988, p.89) One
>> possible interpretation of the Lusatian culture is an overall regional
>> culture, characterized by local traditons at the border between the
>> continental Urnfield culture and the South Scnadinavian Bronze Age culture
>> (Bukowski 1988, p.15f, Gediga 1988, +.41f;Kristiansen 1998,p.73. The
>> Wysocko culture was located just west of the lower part of the Vistula
>> basin, in the same area where the Wielbark culture is formed centuries
>> later."
>> ............
>>
>> "The Late Bronze Age cemeteries of south Scandinavia have many elements in
>> common with the Lusatian area and are interpreted as places with a broader
>> meaning than simply as burial grounds."
>> ..............
>>
>> "The trade and exchange network of the Late Bronze Age-Early Iron Age"
>> .............
>> "Goldsmith's work illutrates contacts between Öland-Gotland and south-east
>> Europe as early as the Pre-Roman Iron Age (e.g. Nylén 1972,p.188 ff)."
>> ..........
>> "Some finds of outstanding quality, such as the Danish Gundestrup cauldron
>> and the manificient gold neck-rings from Havor on Gotland and from Danish
>> Dronninglund, have been interpreted as objects imported from south-east
>> Europe (Kaul 1995; Kaul &Martens 1995). The Scandinavians rings have
>> parallells in the torque from Smejla south of Kiev and Olbia on the Black
>> Sea coast. The rings of Havor and Dronninglund type have been interpreted
>> as import from Black Sea area but also the opposite idea, that they could
>> have been manufactured in Scandinavia, has been put forward (Nylén 1992)."
>> ..............
>>
>> "Erik Nylén points at close and frequent contacts between Scandinavia and
>> south-east Europe, during the last centuries BC and the first centuries AD."
>> .............
>> "What Nylén points out, in opposition to the standpoint that real migration
>> of people was rare in prehistory is that many archaeological finds point at
>> close interaction and also  movements for groups of people."
>> ...........
>> "The Bronze Age contact routes, across the Baltic and further towards the
>> south-east, fit well into the pattern visible also during the Pre-Roman and
>> Roman Iron Age. Curltural groups settled in the Pomeranian coastal area
>> could have served as communicators in a transition zone between Scandianvia
>> and areas in southeastern Europe. This could have been going on for several
>> hundred years, with a continuous cultural development in the differnet
>> areas, but not necessarily with any major break in important contact routes
>> or alliances. Hypothetically the Bronze Age alliances could, over time,
>> have developed into close relations between élite groups in some
>> geographical areas. If so, the close contact could in the long run have
>> generated oveall cultural similarities between such groups, and possibly
>> also an ethnical identification. The kinship and consanguinity between such
>> élite groups in different areas could then have been stronger than with
>> "ordinary" people in the local environment. Regardless of other points of
>> comparison, this could be compared with the scenario of the European
>> nobility during later priods, for instance the 18th century, when a
>> nobleman of Sweden probably found it easier to hold a conversation with a
>> German or Polish equal in the French language than to talk with a farmer
>> from the neighbourhood of his own manor.
>> The élite contacts between parts of Scnadinavia and the Lusatian culture
>> during the Broze Age could have created such a pattern.  This élite, or
>> possibly larger groups of people, in both Pomeranian area and in
>> Scandinavia could have developed a similar language and used the same
>> cultural codes and customs. On an individual basis, exchanges of persons
>> are likely to be interpreted as intermarriage or as travelling artisans or
>> traders. Dynastic marriages between high ranking or royal groups in
>> different geographic areas are a phenomenon with parallells throughout
>> history. Alliances involving marriage exchange among the élite have been
>> interpreted as important elements also of the interaction systems in Bronze
>> Age Europe (Kristiansen 1998,p.91)"
>> ....................
>>
>> "Conclusions
>> The question concerning possible connections between Scandinavia and the
>> early Goths of present-day Poland is a complex problem, which exists on
>> different levels. The infected historical dimension of different ideas
>> concerning the origin of the Goths makes this matter very sensitive indeed.
>> The historical misuse of research concerning the Goths casts a shadow even
>> on serious attempts. The opening line of Herwig Wolfram in his History of
>> the Goths shows this problem. "Anyone in the field of Gothic history must
>> expect to be misunderstood" (Wolfram 1990, p1). The unfortunate interaction
>> between facts, fiction and wishful thinking makes this subject a difficult
>> task indeed.
>> Even though the Gothic tradition of a Scandinavian origin could have been
>> invented by Cassiodorus or Jordanes or by someone else, I consider it far
>> more probable that these stories had a long background as  oral tradition.
>> Although this history could have been formed out of fragments of different
>> oral traditions as well as from learned constructions, it can nevertheless
>> hold a core of truth concerning real relations with people living in
>> Scandianvia."
>>
>> Tore
>>
>>
>>
>>
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