Germanische „Fürstengräber“ und das „Corpus der römischen Funde im europäischen Barbaricum“

Abstract

For Hans Jürgen Eggers and others, grave finds formed the basis for the typological and chronological classification of Roman products in non-Roman find contexts outside the Roman Empire. They were and are the starting point for sociological interpretations of the archaeological finds and provide information on the type and range of the spectrum of Roman luxury and everyday goods used by the “barbarians”, including raw materials and technical processes, in particular colouring and surface refinement. The “Corpus of Roman Finds in the European Barbaricum” makes it possible to assess the grave finds in the regional and chronological context of other sites. New finds and the analysis of long-known find complexes have considerably expanded the database for the investigation of various topics from the perspective of Roman material goods. Amongst other things, patterns in equipment with Roman objects can be identified which are common to inhumations as well as cremations and include burials addressed as “princely graves”. The so-called “royal tomb” at Mušov in Moravia is of outstanding importance in several respects because of its geographical location in the centre of the Roman-Germanic interaction space during the Marcomannic Wars (AD 166/168–180) and the many possibilities of interpretation linked to this circumstance. Chronologically, despite the controversially discussed dating to immediately before or during the Marcomannic Wars, it provides a bridge from the Early Imperial “Lübsow Tombs” to Late Imperial princely tombs such as those of the Haßleben-Leuna group in Central Germany. Furthermore, the tomb inevitably challenges researchers to connect the identity of at least one of the occupants with personalities mentioned in ancient written sources who acted on the side of the Marcomanni; specifically, in this case, Ballomarius. This is a concrete example of the value of attempts to reconstruct the “life stories” even of still nameless actors against the background of historical processes, be it in the context of Roman-Germanic or internal barbarian interaction. In this context, the bronze cauldron with the Suebian head attachments (“Suebenkopfattaschen”) raises the question of goods made in Roman workshops as status symbols specifically for important representatives of the barbarian elites of the European Barbaricum. The “Suebian head” cauldrons from the tombs of Czarnówko in Pomerania and Kariv in western Ukraine cast a spotlight on the East Central European elites involved in the event horizon of the Marcomannic Wars.