DOI issue:
Artikuły / Articles
DOI article:Zapolska, Anna: The solidus of Heraclius from Wargen in Sambia – reconsidered
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43282#0176
ANNA ZAPOLSKA
burial sites in Masuria contained, for the most part, their imitations. Almost none
of the fibulae are imported objects,53 whilst the pieces represented here, such as
the fibulae of Craam (graves 17 and 18), Dollkeim (grave 64), and Zophen (graves
179 and 192), were adapted to suit the Baltic population’s local tastes.54 However,
they can be found only sporadically.55
The oldest fibulae with West-Germanic connotations reached the Western
Baltic territory already in the second half of the 5* Century, mainly from the basins
of the Elbe and the Weser. The forms typical of these areas include equal-armed
brooches and tutulus fibulae, found in the Western Baltic territory in contexts datable
to the mid-S* and early 6* centuries. These forms, however, are not represented in
the Sambian Dollkeim-Kovrovo culture.56 Among the pieces known from Sambian
graves of the same chronological horizon, there are some imports or local imitations
of cast fibulae with three knobs on the head.57 Unlike Danubian artefacts, which do
not show up as imports in the territory in question and which, as a rule, were imitated,
original Merovingian fibulae did reach the Western Baltic Settlement areas.58
A slightly later dating can be given to a group of fibulae with Merovingian
connotations, ones with a half-round head and decorated with almandines
(the Daumen/Hüfingen type). In the Germanie milieu, a Variation exists with
a rectangular head, in contexts dated to the first half of the 6* Century, whereas
the pieces known from the Western Baltic territories can be dated to the latter half
of that Century and later.59 Much the same is true of another type of Merovingian
fibula: ones with a half-round head (the Sontheim type), which appeared in the mid-
6th Century, but which arrived in Masuria no earlier than after the middle of that
Century or even in the third quarter of the 6* Century.60 Of a somewhat later date
are the fibulae of the Montale-Weimar type, which may have arrived in the Western
Baltic territory from the East-Merovingian area in the late 6* or early 7* Century,
but certainly no earlier than in the mid-ó* Century.61 Among the chronologically
latest fibulae found in the Western Baltic territory are those of the Troyes type,
originally reported as coming from the West-Frankish area. This type dates back
53 An exception is the Csongräd-type fibula found in grave 246 at Stare Kosewo (Ibidem: 94), whose arrival
in Masuria would becoine, in accordance with Hilberg’s view, the impulse that brought about the entire series of
similar, inostly bronze-cast, fibulae (Ibidem: 100). Such fibulae have not been reported, however, for the territories
of Sambia and Natangia (Ibidem: 103).
54 Ibidem: 89-94.
55 Cf: 117-119.
56 Ibidem: 207.
57 Ibidem: 207-208.
58 Ibidem: 209-222.
59 Ibidem'. 212-214, with further literaturę.
60 Ibidem: 231,285.
61 Ibidem: 245, 285.
burial sites in Masuria contained, for the most part, their imitations. Almost none
of the fibulae are imported objects,53 whilst the pieces represented here, such as
the fibulae of Craam (graves 17 and 18), Dollkeim (grave 64), and Zophen (graves
179 and 192), were adapted to suit the Baltic population’s local tastes.54 However,
they can be found only sporadically.55
The oldest fibulae with West-Germanic connotations reached the Western
Baltic territory already in the second half of the 5* Century, mainly from the basins
of the Elbe and the Weser. The forms typical of these areas include equal-armed
brooches and tutulus fibulae, found in the Western Baltic territory in contexts datable
to the mid-S* and early 6* centuries. These forms, however, are not represented in
the Sambian Dollkeim-Kovrovo culture.56 Among the pieces known from Sambian
graves of the same chronological horizon, there are some imports or local imitations
of cast fibulae with three knobs on the head.57 Unlike Danubian artefacts, which do
not show up as imports in the territory in question and which, as a rule, were imitated,
original Merovingian fibulae did reach the Western Baltic Settlement areas.58
A slightly later dating can be given to a group of fibulae with Merovingian
connotations, ones with a half-round head and decorated with almandines
(the Daumen/Hüfingen type). In the Germanie milieu, a Variation exists with
a rectangular head, in contexts dated to the first half of the 6* Century, whereas
the pieces known from the Western Baltic territories can be dated to the latter half
of that Century and later.59 Much the same is true of another type of Merovingian
fibula: ones with a half-round head (the Sontheim type), which appeared in the mid-
6th Century, but which arrived in Masuria no earlier than after the middle of that
Century or even in the third quarter of the 6* Century.60 Of a somewhat later date
are the fibulae of the Montale-Weimar type, which may have arrived in the Western
Baltic territory from the East-Merovingian area in the late 6* or early 7* Century,
but certainly no earlier than in the mid-ó* Century.61 Among the chronologically
latest fibulae found in the Western Baltic territory are those of the Troyes type,
originally reported as coming from the West-Frankish area. This type dates back
53 An exception is the Csongräd-type fibula found in grave 246 at Stare Kosewo (Ibidem: 94), whose arrival
in Masuria would becoine, in accordance with Hilberg’s view, the impulse that brought about the entire series of
similar, inostly bronze-cast, fibulae (Ibidem: 100). Such fibulae have not been reported, however, for the territories
of Sambia and Natangia (Ibidem: 103).
54 Ibidem: 89-94.
55 Cf: 117-119.
56 Ibidem: 207.
57 Ibidem: 207-208.
58 Ibidem: 209-222.
59 Ibidem'. 212-214, with further literaturę.
60 Ibidem: 231,285.
61 Ibidem: 245, 285.