Emigration av Goths

[Wilhelm Otto]

Hi Tore,

Our research question is, as I have got it, “Did the Goths emanate from
Scandinavia to emmigrate into Central Europe?

Those who believe that this was the case refer to Jordanes. And I refer to
Peter Heather who tells us about evidence for the Goths Scandinavian origins
has been found in two elements of the Geticas text; the story of Berig but
also the names of some Scandinavian tribes which are mentioned just before
it (Getica 19 – 24). This later part mentions Vagoth, Gauthigoth and
Ostrogoth. This demonstrates such a profound knowledge of the tribes first
home that it is proof in itself.

Heather admits “that the story of Berig and his migration genuinely reflect
Gothic story telling in some way, but he is less sure that the original
Gothic stories mentioned Scandinavia”. And he goes on: “Indeed the pattern
of the evidence here is in some ways similar to the original stories, which
have survived for another Germanic people, the Lombards.” (Both books) “by
Paul the Deacon reports that the Lombards original home was Scandinavia. But
there is reason to think that Paul was at least influenced by having read
Jordanes. A third text, the so called Codex Gothanum, although telling not
dissimilar stories about some of the same people nevertheless situates the
Lombards’ first home on the extreme boundary of Gaul. This is exactly where
they were located by Tacitus (Germania 40)…) And Heather goes on to show the
intellectual processes at work. The recorders had to make sense out of the
material they had, and it was obscure.

But is this a foundation for a firm belief? I personally think it is not. So
we go to archaeology to find support for our view. Heather claims that the
Gotho-Gepidan Culture was older south of the Baltic than northwards. When it
comes to dating he writes:

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)

This takes, as I read it, the stress from one singular element and presents
a holistic mode of dating method. Thereby we have left the medieval
scholastic forms of argument behind us. It is not enough to find a single
bit which does not fit into the system. It is to find a better system. Still
You have not shown that the Culture is older on Gotland than south of the
Baltic. 

 

 

The problem of how and to a certain extent when people moved will be
elucidated in a not so distant future, when the analyses of our genes and
such like will come a bit further. It is already well on its way. National
Geographic and other (IBM) are doing a wonderful job at reconstructing the
movements of various people on the globe. This work is based on our genetic
markers. The present situation may be studied at

HYPERLINK
"http://www.nationalgeographic.com/genographic"http://www.nationalgeographic
.com/genographic

Just click on the Atlas of the Human Journey. There you may find the genetic
markers showing how people migrated until fairly late times. We can not yet
follow the Goths journey across Europe. We might never be able to do it. I
think the Goths were a social construction, which did not stand for the same
thing during the years. What for any given time was Gothic varied. The link
to NG gives us, however, a reminder of the evolution of science. Yours

Wilhelm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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