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#0181
THE SOLIDUS OF HERACLIUS FROM WARGEN IN SAMBIA...
accumulated in the south of the country,87 it is not very likely that our solidus of
Heraclius could have come via the south of Poland. In view of the fact that some
solidi of Heraclius (and his direct successors) have been found in present-day
Ukraine88 - including unpublished finds madę by amateur prospectors using metal
detectors -1 would be inclined to favour the hypothesis that our coin of Heraclius
reached the area of the Dollkeim-Kovrovo culture by way of the old “Gothic”
trail that linked the territories along the Black Sea to the Baltic coast. It is an open
question as to whether the inflow would have been facilitated via Slavic tribes,
as Marcin Wołoszyn suggests,89 or perhaps by way of some Germanie population
which may have persisted across present-day Western Ukraine.90 In my opinion,
intermediation activity by Germanie tribes seems more plausible, as their tradition
of maintaining trade relations with the peoples inhabiting the northern and western
parts of the Barbaricum traces back to Roman times, whereas the Slavs, in spite
of their having lived near the Eastern Roman Empire for several centuries, did not
come into direct contact with it.91 This would mean that it was less likely that they
would have come into possession of greater amounts of imports, including gold
coins, which would have reached further north as a result of trade relations with
their neighbours.
SOURCES
GRENZ, Legacy
The legacy archive of Rudolf Grenz is kept at the Archaeological Museum of the Chateau
Gottorf (Archäologisches Landesmuseum, Schloß Gottorf), D-24837 Schleswig.
JAKOBSON, Legacy
The legacy archive of Feliks Jakobson is kept at the Latvian Museum of National History
(Latvijas Nacionälais Vestures muzejs), Riga.
REFERENCES
BARANOWSKI, T. 1996. “Pochówki koni z Tumian w woj. olsztyńskim”, Archeologia Polski
41: 65-130.
BARANOWSKI, T. 2004. “Awarowie na Mazurach”. In. Z. KOBYLIŃSKI (ed.), Hereditatem
cognoscere, Studia i szkice dedykowane Profesor Marii Miśkiewicz, Warszawa: 157-164.
87 Cf. WOŁOSZYN 2009: 476, Fig. F
88 Quite a few exemplars are known from finds published by Rropotkin (1962); cf. DEPEYROT 2006: 67,
No. 159; 71, No. 196; 72, No. 207; 78, No. 249; 81, No. 268.
89 Ibidenr. 487-488, 496.
90 MĄCZYŃSKA 2013: 269-270; cf. KROPOTKIN 1962.
91 HEATHER 2009: 470.
accumulated in the south of the country,87 it is not very likely that our solidus of
Heraclius could have come via the south of Poland. In view of the fact that some
solidi of Heraclius (and his direct successors) have been found in present-day
Ukraine88 - including unpublished finds madę by amateur prospectors using metal
detectors -1 would be inclined to favour the hypothesis that our coin of Heraclius
reached the area of the Dollkeim-Kovrovo culture by way of the old “Gothic”
trail that linked the territories along the Black Sea to the Baltic coast. It is an open
question as to whether the inflow would have been facilitated via Slavic tribes,
as Marcin Wołoszyn suggests,89 or perhaps by way of some Germanie population
which may have persisted across present-day Western Ukraine.90 In my opinion,
intermediation activity by Germanie tribes seems more plausible, as their tradition
of maintaining trade relations with the peoples inhabiting the northern and western
parts of the Barbaricum traces back to Roman times, whereas the Slavs, in spite
of their having lived near the Eastern Roman Empire for several centuries, did not
come into direct contact with it.91 This would mean that it was less likely that they
would have come into possession of greater amounts of imports, including gold
coins, which would have reached further north as a result of trade relations with
their neighbours.
SOURCES
GRENZ, Legacy
The legacy archive of Rudolf Grenz is kept at the Archaeological Museum of the Chateau
Gottorf (Archäologisches Landesmuseum, Schloß Gottorf), D-24837 Schleswig.
JAKOBSON, Legacy
The legacy archive of Feliks Jakobson is kept at the Latvian Museum of National History
(Latvijas Nacionälais Vestures muzejs), Riga.
REFERENCES
BARANOWSKI, T. 1996. “Pochówki koni z Tumian w woj. olsztyńskim”, Archeologia Polski
41: 65-130.
BARANOWSKI, T. 2004. “Awarowie na Mazurach”. In. Z. KOBYLIŃSKI (ed.), Hereditatem
cognoscere, Studia i szkice dedykowane Profesor Marii Miśkiewicz, Warszawa: 157-164.
87 Cf. WOŁOSZYN 2009: 476, Fig. F
88 Quite a few exemplars are known from finds published by Rropotkin (1962); cf. DEPEYROT 2006: 67,
No. 159; 71, No. 196; 72, No. 207; 78, No. 249; 81, No. 268.
89 Ibidenr. 487-488, 496.
90 MĄCZYŃSKA 2013: 269-270; cf. KROPOTKIN 1962.
91 HEATHER 2009: 470.