Wielbark culture
Geographical range | Poland |
---|---|
Period | Iron Age |
Dates | ca. 100–400 AD |
Preceded by | Oksywie culture, Przeworsk culture |
Followed by | Sukow-Dziedzice group |
Prehistory and protohistory of Poland |
---|
Chronology |
Antiquity Early Middle Ages |
Topics |
Lusatian culture Biskupin Oksywie culture Wielbark culture Przeworsk culture Polish tribes |
The Wielbark culture (German: Wielbark-Willenberg-Kultur; Polish: Kultura wielbarska) is an Iron Age archaeological complex which flourished on the territory of today's Poland from the 1st century AD[1] to the 5th century AD.[2]
The Wielbark culture is associated with the
In the 5th century AD, the Wielbark culture was replaced by the Sukow-Dziedzice group, which is associated with the Early Slavs.
Discovery
The Wielbark culture was named after the once-Prussian village, known in German as Willenberg, where a burial place with over 3,000 tombs, was discovered and partially recorded in 1873.
The "first modern description" of the culture was not until the work of Ryszard Wołągiewicz in the 1970s. The cemetery's completeness and long period of use was the reason this site was chosen to name the culture, which "spans all the phases of Wielbark culture as well as phases predating its emergence and thus dating to the earlier, pre-Roman period".[3]
Many of the cemetery stones were moved, and many graves were damaged by the early discoverers, particularly during the
Characteristics
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b4/Wesiory.jpg/220px-Wesiory.jpg)
Before 1 AD, when the
The Wielbark culture is primarily differentiated from its predecessor the Oksywie culture by the introduction of inhumation as opposed to cremation, which began around 1 AD. Notably, the Wielbark culture used both rituals. Despite this, there is also evidence for continuity between the two cultures. This is interpreted as being caused by an evolution in spiritual culture.[5]
The neighbouring Przeworsk culture, on the other hand, long continued to practice cremation, and whereas Wielbark burials never included weapons, Przeworsk burials often did. In the second century AD however, the burial practices of the Wielbark culture began to spread into Przeworsk areas.[6]
Instead, the artifacts found are mostly ornaments and costumes, although a few graves have shown
The Wielbark culture played an important role in the Amber Road.[7][8] A complex series of wooden bridges and causeways built by the Wielbark culture were probably connected to this trade.[9]
The Wielbark culture appears to have practiced mixed agriculture. Their lack of agricultural expertise made their fields less fertile, which caused the population to be quite mobile.[10] Several settlements however remained stable for hundreds of years.[10]
A characteristic of the Wielbark culture, which it had in common with southern Scandinavia, was the raising of stone covered mounds,
The Wielbark culture displays several characteristics similar to those of the Chernyakhov culture.[11] This includes the creation of handmade bowl-shaped ceramics, the wearing by females of fibula brooches on each shoulder, the presence of Germanic longhouses, the practice of both cremation and inhumation, and the lack of weapons deposited in burials.[12]
Another feature of the Wielbark culture was the use of bronze to make ornaments and accessories. Silver was used seldom and gold rarely. Iron appears to have been used extremely rarely. In 2000, in Czarnówko near Lębork, Pomerania, a cemetery of Oksywie and Wielbark cultures was found. These reached their height before the emigration of the population to the south began. A bronze kettle depicts males wearing the Suebian knot hairstyle.[13]
History
The Wielbark culture emerged in the 1st century AD around the same area as the Oksywie culture, around the present day towns of Gdańsk and Chełmno.[7] Whether the Wielbark culture was an outgrowth of the Oksywie culture or represents a new population is disputed. The increasing density of Wielbark centuries after its establishment suggests that it experienced significant population growth during its existence.[6]
During the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, the Wielbark culture expanded into the lakelands (
In the first half of the 3rd century AD, the Wielbark culture expanded southwards along the Vistula and
Isolated pockets of the Wielbark culture continued to exist in current northern Poland until the 5th century AD.[2][15] From then it was replaced by the Sukow-Dziedzice group, which is associated with Early Slavs.[19]
Ethnicity
The Wielbark culture has been described by archaeologists as a culture which continued both Germanic and non-Germanic people, which developed from the previous Oksywie material culture, with some influences from Scandinavia.[20] Roman authors described the Gutones, Rugii and Lemovii as living in the same approximate area.
The Gutones have traditionally been equated to the ancestors of the Goths from Scandza (Scandinavia) to Gothiscandza as related in Jordanes' account of their origin. While such Scandinavian influence may well have played a part, the identical geographical extent and persistent use of Oksywie cemeteries suggest that the Wielbark Culture emerged from previous human settlements in the area, with new groups of Scandinavian immigrants making contributions to it as they arrived.[21][7]
Based upon the accounts of Jordanes and Tacitus, many historians and archaeologists believe that the culture was politically dominated by the ancestors of the Goths, Rugii and Gepids who are later described in Roman and Greek sources further south, living north of the imperial border on the Danube.[22][6] Along with the neighbouring Przeworsk culture, historian Peter Heather places it in the Germanic cultural horizon.[23][a] In the past, the Wielbark culture was often connected with Early Slavs, but such theories have been dismissed by modern scholarship.[6][25]
The cemeteries may give some indication in evidence as to which settlements could have been established directly by Goths.
Physical characteristics
Odontological analysis revealed that the Central European populations from the
Genetics
Juras et al. (2014) compared the
Stolarek et al. (2018) examined the mtDNA of 60 individuals buried at the Wielbark cemetery of Kowalewko in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. The majority of the individuals carried types of haplogroup H and U. Notably, they displayed higher frequencies of
Stolarek et al. (2019) examined the mtDNA of 27 individuals from a Wielbark cemetery in Masłomęcz, Poland. The remains were from the 2nd to 4th centuries AD. Based on archaeological evidence, these individuals were assumed to be Goths. They were found to be mostly carriers of haplogroup H and U. The individuals displayed even closer genetic links to Iron Age populations of southern Scandinavia than those of Kowalewko did. Males and females at Masłomęcz were more closely related to each other than those at Kowalewko. They also carried fewer samples of U5b, and displayed less strong genetic links to the Yamanya culture, Corded Ware culture, Bell Beaker culture and Unetice culture than earlier Wielbark samples from Kowalewko.[14]
Zenczak et al. (2017) assigned
Y-chromosome analysis of Goths from the Masłomęcz group cemeteries in southeastern Poland. A total of 14 individuals (78%) represents the Y chromosome haplogroups most closely related to the Scandinavian population. Thirteen individuals were classified into subclades of haplogroup I1, four to haplogroup R1a and one to haplogroup J2b.[30]
Stolarek et al. (2023) tested several individuals buried in Wielbark culture cemeteries. The Y-chromosomes were 1 E (E1b1b1a1b1a), 1 F, 5 G2a (two G2a2b2a1a1b1a1a2 and three more with derived subclades), 19 I1-M253 with SNPs below L1237, Z2039 and P109, 1 I2a1b1, 1 J2b2a1, 1 J2a1a, 2 N1a, 2 R1a1a, 1 with derived R1a-M458, and 6 R1b (three of them with SNPs below U106). Such results show that the Wielbark culture was dominated by Y-hgs most frequently observed in ancient Northern European populations. This observation agrees with the autosomal results, as the individuals analysed were shifted towards peoples inhabiting Northwestern Europe, so that much of their ancestry had a Scandinavian origin.[31]
Gallery
See also
- Migrations of Wielbark and Przeworsk cultures people
- Origins and expansion of the Wielbark culture
- Wielbark culture and burials
Notes
References
- ^ a b Juras 2014.
- ^ a b Heather 2012, p. 125.
- ^ Cieśliński 2016, p. 219.
- ^ Heather 2012, p. 56.
- ^ Cieśliński 2016, p. 222.
- ^ a b c d e f g Heather 2012, pp. 103–107.
- ^ a b c d Rau 2018.
- ^ Heather 2012, p. 139.
- ^ Heather 2012, p. 134.
- ^ a b c Heather 2012, p. 146.
- ^ Heather & Matthews 1991, pp. 63, 91.
- ^ a b c d e Heather 2012, pp. 117–120.
- ^ Maczynska & Rudnicka 2004.
- ^ a b c Stolarek 2019.
- ^ a b Heather 2012, p. 592.
- ^ a b Heather 2012, p. 147.
- ^ Heather 2012, p. 130.
- ^ Heather 2012.
- ^ Heather 2012, p. 413.
- ^ Kazanski, Michael (2020), "Les origines des Goths et la civilisation de Wielbark.", Dossiers d'Archéologie (398)
- ^ Kaliff 2001.
- ^ Heather 2012, p. 222.
- ^ Heather 2010, p. 87.
- ^ Heather 2012, p. 679.
- ^ Heather 2012, p. 392.
- ^ Makiewicz.
- ^ Piontek 2007.
- ^ Stolarek 2018.
- ^ Zenczak et al. 2017.
- ^ Y-chromosome analysis of Goths from the Maslomecz group cemeteries in southeastern Poland. 28th EAA Annual Meeting. European Association of Archaeologists. 31 August – 3 September 2022. Archived from the original on 19 March 2023. Retrieved 6 August 2023.
- PMID 37488661.
Sources
- Andrzejowski, Jacek (2019), "The Gothic migration through Eastern Poland – archaeological evidences", in Cieśliński; Kontny (eds.), Interacting Barbarians. Contacts, Exchange and Migrations in the First Millennium AD, Neue Studien zur Sachsenforschung, vol. 9, Warszawa-Braunschweig, pp. 227–239
{{citation}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Cieśliński, Adam (2016), "The society of Wielbark culture, AD 1‒300", in Rzeszotarska-Nowakiewicz (ed.), The Past Societies. Polish lands from the first evidence of human presence to the Early Middle Ages. 500BC‒500AD, vol. 4, Warszawa, pp. 217‒255
{{citation}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ISBN 9780853234265.
- ISBN 9780330529839.
- ISBN 9780199892266.
- ISBN 9780191735257. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
- Juras, Anna (22 October 2014). "Ancient DNA Reveals Matrilineal Continuity in Present-Day Poland over the Last Two Millennia". PMID 25337992.
- ISBN 9150614827.
- Makiewicz, Tadeusz [in Polish]. "The Goths in Greater Poland". pl:Muzeum Archeologiczne w Poznaniu. Archived from the original on 14 April 2012. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
- Maczynska, Magdalena; Rudnicka, Dorota (2004). "Ein Grab mit römischen Importen aus Czarnówko,Kr. Lêbork (Pommern)" [A grave with Roman imports from Czarnówko, Lębork district, Pomerania, Poland] (PDF). Germania. 88 (2). Verlag Henrich Editionen. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 August 2007. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
- ISBN 157113199X.
- Piontek, Janusz (January 2007). "Odontological Analysis of Central European Populations from the Roman Period and the Early Middle Ages". Humanbiologia Budapestinensis. 30: 77–86. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
- Rau, Andreas (2018). "Wielbark Culture". In Nicholson, Oliver (ed.). ISBN 9780191744457. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
- Stolarek, Ireneuz (6 February 2018). "A mosaic genetic structure of the human population living in the South Baltic region during the Iron Age". PMID 29410482.
- Stolarek, Ireneuz (1 May 2019). "Goth migration induced changes in the matrilineal genetic structure of the central-east European population". PMID 31043639.
- Zenczak M, Handschuh L, Juras A, Marcinkowska-Swojak M, Philips A, Piontek J, Stolarek I, Figlerowicz M (2017). "Y-chromosome haplogroup assignment through next generation sequencing of enriched ancient DNA libraries". Anthropological Genetics.
Further reading
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- ISBN 9789155486648.