Die Fürstengräber von Zohor in der Westslowakei und ihr Umfeld im Licht neuer Forschungen

Abstract

After the decline of Celtic power north of the Middle Danube around the turn of the eras, the first evidence of Germanic settlement in the region of western Slovakia-Lower Austria-southern Moravia dates roughly from the reign of Tiberius (AD 14–37). Richly furnished princely graves in this region attest to a gradual increase in settlement density and a significant role of the Germanic elites from the turn of the 2nd century. Richly furnished cremation burials (warriors’ graves and female graves) and the cremation burials of ordinary people have also been found. Among the princely graves whose occupants were interred at the turn of, and during the 2nd century are those of the elites of Zohor and Vysoká pri Morave in western Slovakia, Neuruppersdorf in Lower Austria, and Mušov in southern Moravia.  The bodies of these Germanic princes and kings were interred in burial chambers in individual burial plots outside the cremation cemeteries.
The Zohor site, only 14 km from the Limes Romanus, is one of the main Germanic settlements of the northern Danube region. The extensive settlement, covering some 30 ha, included a cremation cemetery and a separate burial ground, segregated from the cemetery, for the local elite. As long ago as the 1940s and ’50s, partial inventories from at least three princely graves were recovered from the local gravel pit; the circumstances of the discovery are somewhat unclear, however. In 1995 and 2008–2010, K. Elschek carried out extensive rescue excavations over a 5 ha area, resulting in the discovery and examination of around 100 settlement features and around 35 cremation burials from the Roman Imperial period. In 2008, a so-called ‘sepulchral feature’ from the second half of the 2nd century was also examined, which may have been a richly furnished cremation burial. The feature contained, amongst other things, small silver-gilt and bronze finds, pottery, and Roman building material. During the 2010 excavations, a further princely grave (no. 6/2010) was examined and documented. The deceased prince lay in a wooden burial chamber with grave goods which included, besides numerous small finds, nine Roman vessels (seven made of bronze and two of glass) and three Germanic vessels. Other grave goods included brooches, spurs, belt parts, shoe fittings, fittings from a small wooden box, a knife, a pair of scissors, and a razor, all of which were made of bronze. Next to the head of the deceased lay 26 stones, thought to have served as gaming pieces. The princely graves of Zohor date from roughly the turn of the 2nd century and the following half-century. They belong to the “Lübsow Group” of  princely graves, widespread throughout “Germania Libera”. We believe that the Germanic princes of Zohor built a Roman-style residence for themselves at the so-called “Roman staging post” at Stupava during the second half of the 2nd century and continued to reside there in the 3rd century.

Anthropological analysis of princely grave no. 6/2010
The skeleton had been damaged by groundwater. Of the skull, only the neurocranium could be partially reconstructed. From the middling to robust structure of the fragments and the medium to strong relief of the muscle attachments it was possible to form an approximate image of the skull of the deceased. The teeth, though highly abraded, showed only surface abrasion. A thickening of the left clavicle bone was evidence of a healed fracture. The skeleton was that of an adult man (Maturus I) who had died from natural causes at between 40 and 50 years of age. Only the left femur was available from which it was possible to determine the height of the individual; according to Manouvrier the deceased was above average height (169.6 cm); according to Pearson he was tall (171.2 cm).

Textile analysis of princely grave no. 6/2010
The textile remains from princely grave no. 6/2010 (Object 217/2010) can be divided into two main groups: 1) fragments adhering to the bronze vessels, 2) mineralised fragments attached to the small metal finds. In the first group, the best-preserved fragments were found on the bottom and handle of the bronze handled bowl (patera) and consisted of a fairly coarse linen twill. The same type of linen twill, with a very similar, though not always completely discernible structure, was also identified on the trefoil jug, both skillets, the ladle, and the sieve. In all these cases, the textile fragments adhered to only one side of the finds – the side which was uppermost when the object was deposited. The same could be observed with the finds in the second group: the textile fragments were always attached only to one side of the brooches, nails and fittings. Unfortunately, the textile structure could only be identified in two cases as a twill weave.