Neglected Barbarians

676 Pages·2010·54.475 MB·English

by  Florin Curta

NEGLECTED BARBARIANS
STUDIES IN THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES
Editorial Board under the auspices of the
Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York
Elizabeth M. Tyler, University of York
Julian D. Richards, University of York
Ross Balzaretti, University of Nottingham
Previously published volumes in this series are listed at the back of this book
VOLUME 32
NEGLECTED BARBARIANS
Edited by
Florin Curta
H
F
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Neglected barbarians. – (Studies in the early Middle Ages ; v. 32)
1. Ethnohistory – Europe. 2. Ethnology – Europe – History – To 1500. 3.
Ethnoarchaeology – Europe. 4. Civilization, Medieval – Research. 5. Europe –
Antiquities.
I. Series II. Curta, Florin.
940'.04-dc22
ISBN-13: 9782503531250
© 2010, Brepols Publishers n.v., Turnhout, Belgium
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of the publisher.
D/2010/0095/219
ISBN: 978-2-503-53125-0
Printed in the E.U. on acid-free paper
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements vii
List of Illustrations ix
Introduction 1
FLORIN CURTA
The Backcountry Balts (Aesti) and the ‘Northern Gold’ 13
in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages
AUDRONË BLIUJIENË
The Mysterious Barbarians of Mazuria: 31
The Riddle of the Olsztyn Group
WOJCIECH NOWAKOWSKI
The Antes: Eastern ‘Brothers’ of the Sclavenes? 53
BART£OMIEJ SZYMON SZMONIEWSKI
Bosporus, the Tetraxite Goths, and the Northern Caucasus Region 83
during the Second Half of the Fifth and the Sixth Centuries
IGOR O. GAVRITUKHIN AND MICHEL KAZANSKI
A Hun-Age Burial with Male Skeleton 137
and Horse Bones Found in Budapest
MARGIT NAGY
A Fifth-Century Burial from Old Buda (Budapest) 177
ÁGNES B. TÓTH
Where Did All the Gepids Go? 209
A Sixth- to Seventh-Century Cemetery in Bratei (Romania)
RADU HARHOIU
Gepids in the Balkans: A Survey of the Archaeological Evidence 245
ANNA KHARALAMBIEVA
Bohemian Barbarians: Bohemia in Late Antiquity 263
JAROSLAV JIØÍK
The Herules: Fragments of a History 319
ROLAND STEINACHER
The Justinianic Herules: 361
From Allied Barbarians to Roman Provincials
ALEXANDER SARANTIS
Still Waiting for the Barbarians? 403
The Making of the Slavs in ‘Dark-Age’ Greece
FLORIN CURTA
Astures, Cantabri, and Vascones: The Peoples of the Spanish North 479
during the Late and Post-Roman Period
SANTIAGO CASTELLANOS
Suevic Coins and Suevic Kings (418–456): The Visigothic Connection 503
FERNANDO LÓPEZ SÁNCHEZ
Hidden Tracks: On the Vandal’s Paths to an African Kingdom 537
GUIDO M. BERNDT
The Frexes: Late Roman Barbarians 571
in the Shadow of the Vandal Kingdom
PHILIPP VON RUMMEL
Afterword: Neglecting the Barbarian 605
PETER HEATHER
List of Contributors 625
Maps and Plates 63(cid:20)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book developed out of two sessions organized for the 40th Interna-
tional Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo (May 5–8, 2005). I am
grateful to the Medieval Institute at Western Michigan University, the
organizer of the congress, for its continuous support. Over the six years during
which this book has taken — and changed — shape, I have acquired a number of
debts. My largest thanks go to the authors of the essays included here. They stuck
with the project despite many obstacles and disappointments. As all of us (in-
cluding those who dropped out along the way) came to realize, the study of the
‘neglected barbarians’ takes a great deal of time, commitment, and perseverance.
The School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study in
Princeton provided the time, resources, and a genial and supportive atmosphere for
bringing this project to fruition during the Spring semester of 2007. I wish to
thank Carolyn Walker Bynum for encouragement and helpful suggestions. I am
also grateful to those students who helped me with the translation and editing of
several chapters in this book: Andrew Holt, Anna Lankina, and Reid Weber.

ILLUSTRATIONS
Figures
Bliujienë, ‘The Backcountry Balts’
Figure 1.1, p. 15. The distribution of first- to eighth-century amber artefacts in
Lithuania and southern Latvia.
Š è
Figure 1.2, p. 18. Baliulai ( ven ionys district, eastern Lithuania), barrow 12, grave
1 (first quarter of the fifth century). Grave goods found together with the
female skeleton.
š
Figure 1.3, p. 19. Kalni kiai (Raseiniai district, central Lithuania), grave 250 (fifth
century). Grave goods found together with a child skeleton.
šè
Figure 1.4, p. 19. Riklikai (Anyk iai district, eastern Lithuania), barrow 12,
grave A (first half of the fifth century). Grave goods found together with a
female skeleton.
Figure 1.5, p. 20. Cultural links and trade relations between the eastern Baltic
region and Eastern Europe between the fifth and the seventh centuries: areas
with amber finds.
Š ë ë
Figure 1.6, p. 25. Sixth- to ninth-century beads from the ilut -Priekul and
Š ë š
v k na region (Lamata).
Figure 1.7, p. 25. Sixth- to seventh-century ‘exotic’ artefacts in Lamata.
x Illustrations
Nowakowski, ‘The Mysterious Barbarians of Mazuria’
Figure 2.1, p. 33. The Olsztyn group in the south-eastern region of the Baltic Sea.
Figure 2.2, p. 36. Grave goods found with cremation 14 in Kosewo (district of
¹
Mr gowo, Poland).
Figure 2.3, p. 36. Grave goods found with cremation 30 in Tumiany (district of
Olsztyn, Poland).
Figure 2.4, p. 36. Grave goods found with cremation 87 in Tumiany (district of
Olsztyn, Poland).
Figure 2.5, p. 37. Grave goods found with cremation 141 in Tumiany (district of
Olsztyn, Poland).
Figure 2.6, p. 41. Artefacts of foreign origin in assemblages of the Olsztyn group.
Figure 2.7, p. 44. Artefacts from assemblages dated to the last stages of the Olsztyn
group.
Szmoniewski, ‘The Antes: Eastern “Brothers” of the Sclavenes?’
Figure 3.1, p. 68. The location of the Antes on a map of Central and Eastern
Europe, based on the written sources pertaining to the second half of the sixth
century.
Figure 3.2, p. 68. The Pen’kivka and other contemporary archaeological cultures
in Central and Eastern Europe (late sixth to early seventh centuries).
Figure 3.3, p. 72. Examples of sunken-featured and circular, tent-like buildings
found in the settlements of the Pen’kivka culture.
Figure 3.4, p. 73. The main shapes of the handmade pottery of the Pen’kivka
culture.
Figure 3.5, p. 75. The map of the Pastyrs’ke stronghold, drawn by Vikentiy V.
Khvoyka.
Figure 3.6, p. 77. The distribution of the ‘Antian antiquities’ in the forest-steppe
region of Eastern Europe.
Figure 3.7, p. 78. Selected artefacts (‘Antian antiquities’) from the Koziivka hoard
Ukraine.