Naddunajska grupa kultury przeworskiej w świetle analizy materiałów archeologicznych

Abstrakt

A considerable part of the materials of the Macromannic-Quadian culture circle, dated to the second century AD, can be unquestionably linked with the Przeworsk culture. Finds of Przeworsk character (Fig. 2) occur mainly in Moravia and in lesser numbers in southwestern Slovakia and north-eastern Austria (Fig. 1). Their presence in the areas in question has so far been interpreted (cf. footnote 1) as a result of far-flung intertribal exchange or as an effect of local (Marcomannic-Quadian) production inspired by Przeworsk models.

According to this author, such interpretation is contradicted by the character and kind of the artifacts in question. Most of them (pottery, fibulae, spurs or parts of belts) are distinguished neither by the material they were made of nor by their esthetic qualities and thus they do not have attributes usually linked with „imports”. This concerns primarily pottery which is average and by its very nature not transportable. Moreover, the Przeworsk finds occuring in graves (cf. cataloque) form definite sets which are peculiar to the Przeworsk culture alone. From all this it seems reasonable to infer that the occurrence of the above mentioned artifacts on the Middle Danube could not have taken place without the participation of the „Przeworsk” human factor. Accordingly, the presence in the area in question of a considerable group of newcomers from beyond the Sudeten-Carpathian Mountains should be taken into account. The earliest Przeworsk materials discovered on the Middle Danube indicate that the newcomers appeared in the first two decades of the 2nd century AD, and stayed in their new homeland et least to the end of that century.

Moreover, it should be noted that the earliest phase of the Danubian settlement of the Przeworsk culture (developed phase B2 – about 110/120-150/160 AD) is far better documented by archaeological materials that the later phase (phase Bj/C, about 150/160-200/210 AD). The latter is distinctly on the wane, this being doubtless due to the Marcomannic wars (166-180 AD), within the orbit of which the areas in question were located.

An attempt is made to answer the question: which area of the Przeworsk culture could the human groups that settlet on the Middle Danube have come from? The survey of the categories of finds (eg fibulae – Figs. 3-5, parts of belts, spurs etc.) point fairly clearly to the western and central areas of the Przeworsk culture, and more precisely to the basins of the Upper Odra and Upper Warta as the starting point of the hypothetical migration.