Roman and Barbarian Archaeology

The paper deals with the contacts between the Roman provinces and southern Bohemia, which was settled by Germanic tribes during the Roman period. In recent years, the number of Roman finds in southern Bohemia has grown significantly. A fairly varied range of imports is dominated by fibulae, terra sigillata/Samian ware, fragments of bronze vessels, coins and other types of Roman import. Isolated finds prevail, however Roman artefacts also come from settlements (especially Sedlec, Přešťovice and Zalužany). The main period of influx of Roman provincial goods is from the second half of the 1st century to the 2nd half of the 2nd century AD. We can recognize three waves of imports: B1c, B2a and B2b-B2/C1. The large concentration of Roman imports at the settlement in Sedlec leads to the suggestion that a so-called central settlement with commercial and social significance existed there. The authors also deal with communication routes that led from the Danube River to the south of Bohemia. Based on Roman imports and coins, four routes can be reconstructed.

Soós, E. - Tankó, K.: An attempt at interpretation of the La Tène and Roman period settlement finds from Szilvásvárad in Northeast-Hungary. in: Berecki, S. - Rustoiu, A. - Egri, M. (eds.): Iron Age Connectivity in the Carpathian Basin. Proceedings of the International Colloquium from Târgu Mureş. Cluj-Napoca 2018

The main goal of this study is to examine the archaeological material dating from the Early Roman period which was discovered during archaeological investigations in a sandpit near Slepotice (Pardubice District) between the years 1995–2003. There were 30 features in total which yielded mainly potsherds corresponding to the Eggers A phase and thus to the pottery of the Plaňany group of the Grossromstedt culture. In addition to pottery, there were also bronze brooches, bronze castellated belt hooks, and other iron objects. The recovered collection was compared with objects of similar date from the Elbe-Germanic cultural circle.

The impact of the Roman army in the territories north of the Middle
Danube can be particularly seen in the core area of Germanic
settlement along the middle reaches of the River Dyje and its tributaries
the Svratka and Jihlava. In the surroundings of the Roman
military base at Mušov-Burgstall several Roman temporary camps
closely connected to the local river network are known. New investigations
have provided more detailed information on these installations
discovered by aerial survey in the 1990s. In Mušov-Na
Pískách it was possible to record several camps in their exact positions
and with detailed characteristics of their defensive circuits.
Comparable results were obtained from the surveys in the Přibice
camps north of Mušov-Burgstall. Further to the north along the
River Svratka there is a camp at Modřice near Brno in the middle of
a local Germanic settlement area. At all sites new results were obtained
on each location, ground-plan, chronology, as well as further
details.

R.M. Reida, A.V. Heiko, S.V. Sapiehin
BURIAL WITH
«
CHARON’S OBOL» FROM SHYSHAKY CEMETERY OF CHERNYAKHIVSKA CULTUREPublished is the burial 39 from Shyshaky burial ground of Chernyakhivska culture (Poltava Oblast). Buried was a 25—30-year-old woman put in a grave along the east-west line, extended and with her head to the west. Western part of the grave is destroyed by a trench for the pipe leading to sewage treatment structures.The buried was accompanied by a glass transparent cup with profiled bottom and grinded ovals on the body (two rows of  big ovals placed vertically on the cup and two rows of small ovals placed horizontally). The direct analogy for the cup is an example from Setvedt burial ground on the territory of Norway. This example is dated by E. Straume back to the stage D 2 according to Scandinavian chronology. I.O. Gavritukhin refers their usage to the 5
th
c. On the authors’ opinion, the date of the cup from the burial 39 can be narrowed to the first half of the 5
th
c. A coin was situated under the bottom of the cup. It was a denarius of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius to which a small cloth  was adhered preserved owing to oxidizing process on the coin. The coin and the cup were put into the right hand of the buried. The authors consider such location to be not occasional and apparently corresponding to the notions about the journey to the world of the dead. A coin put into the hand can be preliminary interpreted as a Charon’s obol and the glass cup as a sign marking the participation of the dead in the feast in the other world.Both coins, and glass cups are found in the Late Roman burials at both Barbarian and Ancient Greek sites, though direct analogies of the recorded element of the burial rite in the grave 39 of Shyshaky burial ground is not known yet. Such combination in one burial is unique for Chernyakhivska culture to which Shyshaky burial ground belonged, and this fact complicates interpretation.Uniqueness of the burial 39, as well as the late as for Chernyakhivska culture date of the 5
th
c. Setvedt series (Luhy type) glass cup usage enlarges the number of Chernyakhivska culture sites on the territory of the Dnipro River left bank forest-steppe area which belong to the period after the Huns arrival. Discovering the new sites can indicate that invasion of the Huns could have no catastrophic consequences for forest-steppe population on the left bank of the Dnipro River represented by Chernyakhivska culture, which existed after this event for a certain time.

A find was made nearby now-defunct sunken lanes in the cadastral territory of Jevíčko-Předměstí, Svitavy district, of a shield boss and two spearheads dated to the period around the Marcomannic Wars. The artefacts were placed in the ground intentionally and without clear traces of activity that would provide for a clear interpretation of the situation; only a positive phosphate analysis might perhaps provide certain indications. Potential considerations include unusual funeral activities, a hoard or an offering, most probably in relation to the defunct lanes.

On Elbe Germanic cog-wheel pottery - Pottery decorated with cog-wheel ornamentation is one of the main characteristics of the Elbe Germanic cultural environment in the early Roman Age, or B1 and B2. The authors present the main aspects and basic problems of this ornamentation to which little attention has been paid to date. The very varied and relatively common cog-wheel ornamentation, particularly in the Czech and German Elbe region, has so far been little studied by science and offers many issues still to be resolved.

ZUR ELBGERMANISCHEN KERAMIK MIT RÄDCHENVERZIERUNG
Die Keramik mit Rädchenverzierung bildet eine der Hauptcharakteristiken des elbgermanischen Kulturkreises während der älteren römischen Kaiserzeit, bzw. während der Stufen B1 und B2. Die sehr bunte und zahlreiche Rädchenverzierung ist vor allem im böhmischen und deutschen Elbgebiet wissenschaftlich bisher nicht ausgebeutet worden und bietet viele Lösungsthemen an. Die Hauptprobleme bei der rädchenverzierten Keramik kann man vor allem in ihrer Dokumentierung erblicken, im Publizierungsstand und der detaillierten Klassifikation. Oft kommt es zur Verwechslung der Technik
der Rädchenverzierung mit Einstichreihen oder der Technik des sog. Kammstempels, die für die älteste elbgermanische Keramik typisch sind, das bedeutet für die scharf profilierten (sog. Plaňany) Becher der Großromstedt-Kultur (Abb. 1).
Für die Erforschung der elbgermanischen rädchenverzierten Keramik kann man diese Hauptkriterien ausgliedern: die Technik der Rädchenverzierung (Abb. 2-3), Motive und Kompositionen (Abb. 4-5), Platzierung der Verzierung an den Gefäßen und Gefäßtypen, Chronologie (Abb. 6) und ihre Verbreitung.
Die Anfänge rädchenverzierter Keramik werden am Ende der Stufe A verfolgt, bzw. in der Übergangsstufe A/B1. In darauffolgender Stufe B1 ist die rädchenverzierte Keramik öfter vertreten. Für die Phasen B1a und B1b ist das Motiv des ein- bis zweireihigen T-Mäanders charakteristisch (Abb. 6:4-5). Seit der Phase B1c kommt der klassische Mäander mit weiteren Elementen auf (Abb. 6: 6), der in nachfolgender Zeit heimisch wurde, das bedeutet während der Phase B2a (Abb. 6: 7). Für die Spätphase der Stufe B2 (B2b) und auch für die Übergangsstufe B2/C1 ist das Motiv des durchkreuzten sog. Swastikamäanders kennzeichnend (Abb. 6: 8-9). Mit dem Ende der älteren und am dem Anfang der jüngeren römischen Kaiserzeit verschwindet nach und nach die Mode der rädchenverzierten Keramik. Vereinzelt überlebt sie noch in die Phase C1a (Abb. 6: 11-12).

The article contains information about materials of archaeological excavations in 2012 on the cemetery of the Chernyakhiv culture (Psel river region) near Shyshaky village (Poltava region), in particular the female burial 60. This burial according to the materials most likely can be dated to the 2nd half of the 4th c. AD.