[gothic-l] Identifying the Eastern Heruli

[george knysh]

Mahomedov has attempted to link the archaeological
artifacts of the Chernyakhiv culture to various groups
known to have been a part of the "Gothic" realms and
societies in the east during the period ca. 200-430
AD. In his chapter on the ethnic structure of this
"Gothia" he notes that the easiest attributions are
those which pertain to totally distinct ethnic and
linguistic groups. He lists five such: the
"Germanics", the "Iranics", the Slavs, the
Geto-Thracians, and the Graeco-Romans. Only the first
three controlled (ethnically) large geographical areas
where they constituted a majority of the population:
the "Iranics" dominated the northern shores of the
Black Sea between Danube and Lower Dnipro. Mahomedov
is also (quite convincingly) able to distinguish here
between Late Scythian and Alanic components. The Slavs
predominated in the upper Dnister area. The rest of
the Chernyakhiv culture was overwhelmingly "Germanic",
though containing some "minority" (esp. Late Scythian
and Slavic)settlements. The difficulty was to
distinguish the various "Germanic" groups. The easiest
to identify were the Goths, thanks to the Wielbark
culture they brought with them and which developed
into classic Chernyakhiv by 230 AD. But to distinguish
Greutungi from Tervingi and Taifali on purely
archaeological grounds was almost impossible. The
Gepids were linked to the arrival of Late Wielbark
elements into Volynia in the early 4th c. but when
swiftly transmogrified there into Chernyakhiv became
indistinguishable from the other "Goths". A
significant number of "Vandalic" elements were also
discovered in the Chernyakhiv sites. As were
"Scandinavian" ones. Mahomedov, as mentioned, has
tried to link the Eruli with the latter (even if some
of these traits are not exclusively Scandinavian, but
may be found on the Continent. His view is that they
are more likely to be Scandinavian than Continental.
It's a judgement call. He is an excellent field
archaeologist). As regards "3-naved" long houses, he
probably knows what he is talking about, since he
wrote a special article on this issue (which I haven't
been able to consult: cf. Arkheologija 4 (1989), pp.
102-110). Other cited sources for this view are
Tykhanova and Werner. My own perspective is that it is
very difficult indeed to make truly specific
attributions within the "Germanic" group which would
clearly link various settlements with less prominent
historical groups. The Erulian statelet which
Ermanaric is supposed to have conquered need not have
included only Eruli, and the multiple non-Wielbark
contributions of "Germanics" could easily have been
that of small migrating groups from all over.
Nevertheless his hypothesis is hardly a foolish one,
though I cannot agree with his notion that the Eruli
settled on the lower Don immediately after their
arrival. One thing to note is that unlike other
groups, the Eruli are not distinctly linked to the
area of the Wielbark culture. If a connection with the
"Harii" and "Hirri" is possible (but this is quite
problematic) then perhaps we ought to look for them in
the settlements containing "Vandalic" elements (i.e
Psheworsk culture artifacts). If the Scandinavian
connection is real, then the Scandinavian items would
be an indicator. As far as the Jordanes passage about
the Heruli in Scandza is concerned: if one accepts
that it refers to an event of the 5th or 6th
c.(whatever that might be) it cannot of course be used
to prove that the Heruli were not originally from
Scandinavia, that "vagina nationum". We have no
evidence for this one way or another in Jordanes,
unless we stick to the older version of their
"expulsion" by the Dani. But we do know that the
Heruli (and "Borani") appeared quite suddenly in the
mid-3rd c. to participate in the Gothic raids across
the Black Sea, and Kazanski ["Germanic antiquities of
the Late Roman period in the Crimea and Azov areas",
1997] has found graves of fallen warriors of that
period in the southern Crimea which are indubitably
Scandinavian. Adhuc sub iudice lis est.



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