Barbaricum Archaeology

THE ABSOLUTE CHRONOLOGY OF THE ROMAN PERIOD PHASE C1 IN THE LIGHT OF SAMIAN WARE FINDS ON THE TERRITORY OF THE PRZEWORSK CULTURE.
SUMMARY
Samian ware belong to the group of important sources enabling to attempt reconstruction of contacts between the Roman Empire and European Barbaricum. It results from the signifi cant number of fi nds of that kind of ceramics coming from various territories outside the Roman limes, as well as from the possibility of determining places and the sequence of the production of these products, as well as from the diversified group of their recipients. Studies based on dispersion of
these finds are playing an important role, enabling to conclude about the model of the distribution of Roman products on these areas. Finds of the Samian ware also have an essential importance for the study of the absolute chronology of development phases of „barbaric” cultures of Europe.
We can establish as the base of the synchronization of recalled stylistic changes with the absolute chronology of Samian ware, that terminus post quem determines the period of the start-up of the production of an individual Samian ware.
Presented in older literature attempts of the interpretation of the Samian ware infl ux to the territory of Central-European Barbaricum pointed, that it took place not necessarily at the same time as beginnings of the activity of workshops producing them. It is possible we can accept with the higher probability, that Samian ware fi nds are not evidences of the
most late phase of the activity of these workshops as well.
Presumably the period of distribution and later using of one Samian vessel in the environment of the Przeworsk culture every time could be a bit different. With exception of finds dated by historical events, we have no data enabling us to determine more precisely the period, after which the deposition of the vessel could take place. Precise determining of the Samian ware usage is hampered by the specifi c of the sepulchral rite in the environment of the Przeworsk culture. Very often it is impossible to recommend expressively, which items present in the inventory of the cremation burial could be used by the deceased intravital, which were gifts given by participants to the commitment service, and which got to the assemblage by chance. Basing on the less numerous fi nds from the settlement contexts, we can only suppose, if these imports – Samian ware - could be used for instance in a household, and if so, how long this usage took place. Proper interpretation of the sepulchral fi nds could be sometimes hampered by cases when we notice pieces of the same Samian vessel in different graves or fragments of more than one vessel in one assemblage. Presumably such situations are caused by the repeated use of the same cremation place. However sometimes we can reconstruct possible sequence of these cremations, what was proved by the study of the assemblages containing Samian from the cemetery of the Przeworsk culture in Opatów, Kłobuck poviat.
One may record a distinct progress in the research of the places of production of Samian ware and the dating of the activity of workshops producing this pottery, and even more so, as a result of a signifi cant increase in the number of source evidence. It applies most of all to Przeworsk Culture, now with a record of 92 closed assemblages containing Samian pottery, originating from 33 sites (Fig. 1). This is more than twice the number available at the time of the start of earlier studies addressing the absolute chronology of the phases of the Roman Period basing on Samian ware present in grave inventories from the entire territory of the Barbaricum.
However these new fi nds of Samian ware from the Przeworsk Culture territory have not signifi cantly changed the overall view of the infl ux of these imports, nevertheless some individual finds have come to light, originating from workshops not represented earlier in the record of Samian ware in our study area. First of all, there has been a visible increase in the number of finds from the youngest wave of the influx of Samian, produced during the 3rd century AD – mainly at Westerndorf
and at Pfaffenhofen.
Presented analysis is focused mainly on the phase C1of the younger Roman period. Many assemblages of the Przeworsk culture coming from this stage contain Samian ware belonging to the main wave of its infl ux on the territory of the Polish land. Basing on such assemblages we have more data useful for determining the absolute chronology of phase C1a as well (Fig. 2). Only a handful of grave assemblages from
this phase contain Samian ware manufactured after AD 160, at Rheinzabern or at Lubié. The majority of these workshops, except for the workshop of CASURIUS at Lubié, continued to produce their wares over several decades, presumably, until AD 210s/220s. A similarly modest number of grave assemblages from phase C1a contain Samian manufactured starting from AD 175 until 210–220 (from Rheinzabern and Westerndorf). A number of further grave inventories from
phase C1a contain even younger wares, originating from the workshop of HELENIUS in Westerndorf, active in AD 200–230, and possibly a little longer. In the group of grave assemblages likely to date from phase C1a there are also two finds with Samian ware produced by the potter HELENIUS who was active at Pfaffenhofen in the period AD 210–250.
The largest group (more than 30 graves) is formed by assemblages assigned to phase C1 but their dating cannot be refi ned further – either to phase C1a or to phase C1b (Fig. 3). Despite this they have some relevance for the dating of the origins and the time of the spread of the Younger Roman Period style. Only in a single case a grave dated broadly
to phase C1, presumably its earlier stage, contained a Samian ware vessel produced in AD 150–170 at Rheinzabern. Of the remainder nearly a half are inventories containing Samian ware produced only between AD 175 and 210–220, some of them, even until 230. These are the wares from Rheinzabernand from Westerndorf. The same number of inventories dated to an unspecifi ed stage of phase C1, contain somewhat later wares, with a dating of between AD 190/200 and 230s, and some, as late as AD 245/250 (from Rheinzabern, group IIc; Rheinzabern, group IIIa and from Westerndorf).
The extended period of activity of individual workshops producing Samian ware makes it rather diffi cult to specify more closely of the relationship between fi nds attributed to successive chronological phases. This observation applies also to the correlation of phases C1a and C1b. The latter phase is represented in the investigated material by a small number of inventories (Fig. 3). They contain Samian produced in AD 175–210/220 (from Rheinzabern and Westerndorf) or AD 200–230 (from Westerndorf). From phase C1b comes also a number of grave fi nds with Samian ware produced at Pfaffenhofen in DICANUS style, AD 230–260. Thus, Samian ware finds confirm that artefacts recognized as
typical for phase C1b were in use presumably already during the late 2nd century, or the fi rst and the second decade of the 3rd century, contemporaneously with forms typical for phase C1a. Because, if we assume that the Samian ware from AD 170–210/220 does not come from the fi nal years of activity of the workshops which produced them, we have to accept that the fi nd from Chorula (grave 151) confi rms a surmise drawn on the basis of Roman iconography on the early appearance of shield-bosses with a hemispherical body without a collar,
prior to the period of the spread of the style of phase C1b. This is shown by the sarcophagus from Via Tiburtina-Portonaccio, dating from AD 180s, with a depiction of a shield boss of a form corresponding to the find from Chorula.
We may conclude that inventories with the youngest imports of Samian ware, the wares of HELENIUS of Westerndorf and somewhat younger wares from Pfaffenhofen (HELENIUS, DICANUS), originate still from the final years of phase C1. These grave inventories, like the relatively abundant other wares from Pfaffenhofen discovered without a specified context, would be evidence of a much more intensive Przeworsk Culture settlement during phase C1b, than might be concluded basing on the known finds of artefacts of a form recognized as markers of this phase.
The number of currently known assemblages dated by Samian vessels shows that, in determining the chronology of the onset of the younger Roman period, our basis are mainly sepulchral Przeworsk culture assemblages containing this pottery. To some extent observations presented here relative to the dating of the onset and the duration of phase C1b find confi rmation also in fi nds of assemblages with Samian ware from the territory of the Wielbark Culture. The correctness of our observations is indicated also by the relatively modest number of closed assemblages containing Samian ware from other regions of the Central European Barbaricum.
The cultural change during the younger Roman period did not unfold by leaps and bounds, and the periodization scheme used universally for this period refl ects only a general sequence of successive stylistic changes and, as such, does not allow a closer absolute dating also of the fi nds which are recognized as characteristic for a particular phase.
Prof. dr hab. Piotr Kaczanowski (†)
Instytut Archeologii Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego
ul. Gołębia 11, PL 31-007 Kraków
Dr Andrzej Przychodni
Wojewódzki Urząd Ochrony Zabytków w Kielcach
ul. Zamkowa 5, PL 25-009 Kielce
andrzejp@korzenie.gimnazjum.com.pl

Gegenstand vorliegender Arbeit ist der Versuch, in neuer Weise den Wandel, zu dem es am Ende des 1. vorchristlichen und zu Beginn des 1. nachchristlichen Jahrhunderts im uns interessierenden Gebiet kam, zu betrachten und zu interpretieren. Es handelt sich folglich um einen breiteren Horizont als nur die Phase, während der das Marbod-Reich bestand. Eine sehr wichtige Rolle spielen dabei Funde aus dem Gebiet an der Nida, vor allem von den durch den Verfasser geführten Grabungen bei Pełczyska. Hier befindet sich ein großes und reiches Siedlungsensemble, welches Fundplätze vom Neolithikum bis zum Frühmittelalter umfasst. Zur riesigen Fundmasse als Zeugnis außergewöhnlicher vor- und frühgeschichtlicher Siedlungsaktivität gehört auch eine umfangreiche Artefaktsammlung aus der uns interessierenden Phase. Dieses Material spiegelt hervorragend die komplizierten Besied- lungs- und Kulturveränderungen wider, welche in Kleinpolen zu jener Zeit vonstatten gingen, füllt in bedeutender Weise Wissenslücken und wirft neues Licht auf eine Reihe von Problemen. Die Funde von Pełczyska demonstrieren, wie unzureichend unsere Quellenbasis ist, auf der wir die komplizierte Thematik angehen. Hier werden nämlich die Probleme von Migrationen, von kulturellen und ethni- schen Differenzierungen sowie vielschichtige Fragen überregionaler Bedeutung berührt, alles von dynamischen, kurzfristig ablaufenden Umgestaltungen betroffen. Doch sind die Quellengrundla- gen dazu sehr bescheiden. Dies betrifft unter anderem das wenig umfangreiche Metallmaterial vonSiedlungen, was – nach Meinung des Verfassers – vor allem auf die hauptsächlich in den fünfziger und sechziger Jahren, zum Teil auch noch später, angewandte Grabungsmethodik zurückzuführen ist. Dies betrifft nicht nur Kleinpolen, aber Symbol dessen wurde das vor kurzem entdeckte, keltische, überregional bedeutsame Handwerks- und Handelszentrum vom Typ Roseldorf-Němčice auf dem Gelände einer in dieser Zeit untersuchten Siedlung bei Nowa Cerekwia, pow. Głubczyce, woj. opolskie. Ein weiteres Problem ist das Fehlen von Gräberfeldern der vorrömischen Eisenzeit, erklärbar nur mit spezifischen Bestattungssitten der Kelten seit der jüngeren Phase der Mittellatènezeit. Das nahezu völlige Fehlen auch von Gräberfeldern der Träger der Przeworsk-Kultur wird traditionell mit der Übernahme keltischer Sitten erklärt. Neue Funde, darunter von Pełczyska, scheinen anzudeuten, dass diese Deutung in Gänze oder zu großen Teilen falsch ist. Die Gründe für das genannte Phänomen sind offenbar viel prosaischer. Aus ökologischer Sicht gehört das uns interessierende Gebiet zu den degradiertesten ganz Polens. Durch Charakter und Umfang negativer Umformungen führte die Anthropopression die Landschaft in einen katastrophalen Zustand. In Konsequenz dessen wurden archäologische Fundplätze in unvorstellbarer Weise gestört. Die Entdeckungen auf den Fundplätzen bei Pełczyska, besonders den sepulkralen, waren durch glücklichen Zufall und dank der angewandten Untersuchungsmethoden möglich. Dadurch verdop- pelte sich innerhalb weniger Jahre die Zahl donauländischer Importe der Phasen LT D2 – B1a. Von weitreichenden, vorher unbekannten Kontakten der ansässigen Bevölkerung zeugt eine Reihe von Neufunden. Dieses Beispiel zeigt eine einsetzende, weitreichende Neubewertung des Charakters und der Rolle Kleinpolens bei den breit verstandenen Kontakten zwischen Caput Adriae und den Gebieten an der Ostsee an der Wende von der vorrömischen Eisen- zur römischen Kaiserzeit. Dies betrifft auch die Frage seines Verhältnisses zum Marbod-Reich, die in der Fachliteratur im Grunde noch überhaupt nicht gestellt worden ist.

Studie byla publikována v roce 2010 v knize J. Beljak – G. Březinová – V. Varsik (ed.): Archeológia barbarov 2009 - Hospodárstvo germánov / The study was published in 2010 in the book J. Beljak – G. Březinová – V. Varsik (ed.): Barbarian Archeology 2009 - The Germanic Economy.

The Garbiec Hill in Kaczawskie Foothills, near Myślibórz, Jawor county, was excavated in spring 2001 by the mixt expedition of the Department of Archaeology, University of Wrocław, and Archaeological Museum in Wrocław. On the top of the hill an urn grave has been found, unfortunately illegally explored earlier. The grave from the vicinity of Myślibórz belongs to the group of sites from the Roman Period, probably from the stage B2/C1-C1, with cultural features typical for the area in the upper reaches of the Elbe, that is, in general, for the Marcomannic and Quadic environment. They can be sometimes mixed with features of the Przeworsk culture. A distinct concentration of such sites is located in the vicinity of Jawor. Besides, the discussed site, along with other sites belonging to that concentration, causes a change in perspective on colonization of the Sudetes in the Roman Period.

The published pottery with stamped decoration was discovered during
the archaeological research from Margine “Valea Tăniei”, Bihor county, Romania and consists of 40 pieces of pots with stamped decoration (in a total of 25 pots, of which 16 were restorable). Located on the middle course of Barcău River, the settlement from Margine lay, in Roman times in the Barbaricum, at approximately 75 kilometres to the west of the Roman town at Porolissum, following the actual route of Zalău – Oradea road, or 60 kilometres in straight line. The settlement is specific to the Przeworsk and Dacian archaeological cultures.
According to the settlements’ stages of development in Barbaricum, the stamped pottery found in the settlement of Margine “Valea Tăniei” is a pottery class specific especially to the first half of the 3rd century A.D. with possible offsets at the beginning and at the end of the time interval. The multiple analogies with provincial wares lead to the conclusion that analyzed stamped wares are imports from Porolissum. This calls for the same time interval, which is during the Dacia roman province, noting that the settlement from Margine has probably started somewhere in the late 2nd century A.D.
The development of the ceramic centre from Porolissum, the largest stamped pottery production centre of the Roman Empire was due, in a good measure, to the high demand for such luxury products in Barbaricum, leading to closer trade relations with those living in the referred space. Stamped pottery discovered at Margine, Bihor County confirms it once more.

This paper deals with the study of the royal treasures found in so‑called princely graves dating
from the Great Migration period in Western Europe and Barbaricum. Part of these treasures must be consi‑
dered as « objects of memory », with a strong cultural and political value that used to legitimate power.

Im Beitrag geht es um Darstellungen von Tieren auf germanischen
Gefäßen in einem Zeitraum, etwa von der Älteren Römischen Kaiser bis in die
Völkerwanderungszeit. Dabei reichen die Wurzeln mancher Darstellungen in die Vorrömische Eisenzeit und weiter zurück/The article is about representations of animals on Germanic
Vessels in a period from about the Older Roman Imperial Age up to the Migration Period. The roots of some representations go back to the pre-Roman Iron Age and further.

The issue of bronze/brass grooved toreutics from the Roman period is a popular topic of metal vessels research. This paper briefly summarizes contemporary knowledge about this theme and highlights the genesis and variability of the studied group of artefacts.

Pełczyska, Gde. Złota, Kr. Pińczów, Woiw. świętokrzyskie ist eine kleine Ortschaft etwa 55 km nordöstlich von Krakau. Es handelt sich bei dieser Gegend um fruchtbare Lössboden des rechten Nidaufers. Auslöser für die archäologischen Arbeiten war eine zufällige Entdeckung im Jahr 1938. Nach neun Kampagnen archäologischer Grabungsarbeiten in den Jahren 1958-1973 waren die Überreste einer großen frühzeitlichen Siedlung offen gelegt worden, die Material der Przeworsk- und Latènekultur enthielten. Die Forschungen in Pełczyska wurden ab 2000 fortgesetzt, im Rahmen des Projekts Keltische Expedition des Instituts für Archäologie der Universität Warschau. Ihr Ergebnis war die Entdeckung eines mehrkulturellen Gräberfeldes, das mit der Siedlung verbunden war und seit 2001 das Kernobjekt der Arbeiten ist. In den sechs Grabungskampagnen der Jahre 2000-2006 wurden unter anderem eine ganze Reihe von Fundstücken aus der römischen Kaiserzeit gefunden. Gegenstand dieser Arbeit ist eine Übersicht über die römischen Importe, welche Funde aus den Jahren 1958-1973, 2000-2006 sowie zufällige Funde in Betracht nimmt. Bis heute sind mindestens 51 solcher Gegenstände entdeckt worden, in drei verschiedenen Fundstellen, die einem Siedlungskomplex angehörten. Die Mehr- zahl stammt aus dem Bereich der Siedlung (FSt. 1,2,4), die Übrigen vom Gräberfeld (FSt. 6) und zwei bronzene Gefäße stammen vermutlich aus dem als Fundstelle 5 gekennzeichneten Gebiet.

Svitavy groove, Polička municipality (Pardubice region in Eastern Bohemia) is not a traditional residential area. Yet we encounter rare prehistoric findings here, the numerical increase of which is related to the increasing use of detection techniques in recent years. Identified artifacts mainly date to the Bronze Age and Roman Period and illustrate the communication importance of the given region.

Reassessing the funerary inventory from Cehăluţ (Satu Mare county) and further observations on the Late Imperial Roman Period graves containing weapons in northwestern Romania:
The inventory of the cremation grave that was discovered by chance at the outskirts of the town of Cehăluţ was published a long time ago with a proposed dating around the 3rd century – the beginning of the 4th century and was attributed, with some doubts, to the Przeworsk culture. The aim of the current work is to probe the possibility of a narrower chronology for the artefacts, which, undoubtedly, are funerary items belonging to a warrior and have frequent parallels in the Przeworsk culture. The examination was extended to similar findings from the northwestern part of current-day Romania (the southeastern region of the upper Tisa basin), some of which were unearthed after the publication of the grave from Cehăluţ. The main focus was on shield bosses and spearheads. Their dating to the Barbaricum neighboring Dacia Porolissensis appears to be centered between the late 2nd century (immediately following the Marcomannic wars or potentially even towards their end) and the first third or second half of the 3rd century. If this is in fact the case, the lack of funerary rites in northwestern Romania during the next phase of the Late Imperial Roman Period becomes suspect. The tumular (incineration) necropolis from Lazuri-Lubi tag, on the lower Someş, is thus far the sole archaeological discovery and it has a somewhat indeterminate chronological setting. The more plausible explanation could be tied to the transformations taking place starting with the 3rd century, particularly in its second half, in the religious ideology and/or the funerary practices of the bearers of the Przeworsk culture, a phenomenon proven by the archaeological evidence. It is possible that this change also reached the communities which during the Late Imperial Roman Period lived the southeastern extremity of the upper Tisa basin. Even though some regional tendencies are to be expected and they should be taken into consideration, it appears that the northwestern region of Romania did not stray from the course of the evolution that characterized the entire area in which the Przeworsk culture was present.

Site 3 in Bessów is one of the sites located on the lower reaches of the Raba River, in the micro-region associated with the Przeworsk culture, dated mostly to the Younger and Late Roman Periods. In the results of excavations in Bessów, a group of archaeological features described as a "pottery depot" were discovered. In its fill and in its closest vicinity, about 8.330 fragments of pottery were found. Almost all of them represent wheel made pottery, and about half are sherds with abradable surfaces. Apart from pottery and about 180 pieces of daub, other categories of finds did not occur. In older publications the so-called "pottery depot" was interpreted as a place where ready-made vessels were stored. The basis for this interpretation was mainly the presence of a huge amount of pottery in the fill of this feature, with a relatively low share of materials bearing traces of different types of damage at the same time. Reanalysis of pottery material and the stratigraphy allowed for a new interpretation of the "pottery depot" as a potter's work-space or workshop. The paper focuses on the pottery material from the "pottery depot". It is an example of a case study of an untypical archaeological feature and the difficulties connected with its interpretation.