Przeworsk culture

The Przeworsk[1] culture is part of an Iron Age archaeological complex that dates from the 3rd century BC to the 5th century AD.[2]

Przeworsk and other related archeological cultures around the year 300 BC.

Przeworsk culture marked in light 'olive' green.

Przeworsk culture from the period of Roman influence and artifacts found near Bielsko-Biała

Przeworsk burials pottery

2nd-century architecture in area now Poland (timber framing)

Przeworsk culture burials

It was located in what is now central and southern Poland - the upper Oder to the Vistula basin, later spreading to parts of eastern Slovakia and Subcarpathia ranging between the Oder and the middle and upper Vistula Rivers and extending south towards the middle Danube into the headwaters of the Dniester and Tisza Rivers. It takes its name from the village near the town Przeworsk where the first artifacts were found.

Society

The Przeworsk culture people lived in small, unprotected villages, populated each by a few dozen residents at most, made up of several houses, usually set partially below the ground level (semi-sunken), each covering an area of 8–22 square meters. They knew how to dig and build wells, so the settlements didn't have to be located near bodies of water. Thirteen 2nd century wells with variously constructed timber lined walls were found at a settlement in Stanisławice, Bochnia County.[3][4] Fields were being used for crop cultivation for a while and then as pastures, when animal excrement helped the soil regain fertility. Once iron share plows were introduced the fields were alternated between tillage and grazing.

Several or more settlements made up a micro-region, within which the residents cooperated economically and buried their dead in a common cemetery, but which was separated from other micro-regions by undeveloped areas. A number of such micro-regions possibly made up a tribe, with these separated by empty space, zones "of mutual fear", as Tacitus put it. The tribes in turn, especially if they were culturally closely related, would at times form larger structures, such as temporary alliances for waging wars, or even early statehood forms.[5]

A Przeworsk culture turn of the millennium industrial complex for the extraction of salt from salt springs was discovered in Chabsk near Mogilno.[6]

Examinations of the burial grounds, of which even the largest used continuously over periods of up to several centuries, contains no more than several hundreds graves, shows that the overall population density was low.[7] The dead were cremated and the ashes sometimes placed in urns, which had the mid-part in the form of an engraved bulge. In the 1st century AD this was replaced with a sharp-profiled (with a horizontal ridge around the circumference) shape.

In Siemiechów a grave of a warrior who must have taken part in the Ariovistus expedition during the 70–50 BC period was found; it contains Celtic weapons and an Alpine region manufactured helmet used as an urn, together with local ceramics. The burial gifts were often, for unknown reasons, bent or broken, and then burned with the body. The burials range from "poor" to "rich", the latter ones supplied with fancy Celtic and then Roman imports, reflecting a considerably by this time developed social stratification.[5]

Influences

Approximate locations of Przeworsk culture (green) and Zarubintsy culture (red)

Scholars view the Przeworsk culture as an amalgam of a series of localized cultures. Continuity with the preceding Pomeranian culture is observed, albeit modified by significant influences from the La Tene and Jastorf cultures. The Przeworsk culture is often associated with the Vandals, however the culture has also been linked to the early Slavs,[8] and most likely was of mixed Slavic and Germanic nature.[9][10] To the east, the Przeworsk culture is connected with the Zarubintsy culture in what is now northern Ukraine and southern Belarus. Later in the 3rd and 4th centuries AD, much of this area was subsequently absorbed by the Wielbark culture and Chernyakhov culture.[11]

Features

The main characteristic feature of the Przeworsk culture are burials. These were mostly cremations, with occasional inhumation. Warrior burials are notable, which often include horse-gear and spurs. Some burials are exceptionally rich, overshadowing the graves of Germanic groups further west, especially after 400 AD.[12] Pottery and metalwork are often rich and show a great variety [13]

Decline

The culture's decline in the late 5th century coincides with the invasion of the Huns. Other factors may have included the social crisis that occurred as a result of the collapse of the Roman world and the trade contacts it maintained with peoples beyond its borders.[14] In the late 5/6th century, the Prague-Korchak culture appears in the Vistula basin.

See also

• Przeworsk culture settlements and burial sites
• Early Slavs
• Vandals
• Amber Road

Notes

1. Polish pronunciation: [ˈpʂɛvɔrsk]
2. "The Przeworsk culture is known largely from cemeteries, mainly of cremation burials."in: The Cambridge Ancient History t.13 p. 482, 1998; "the help of criteria organised on the basis of analysis of finds from Przeworsk culture territory in a comparison against material from the Rhine. (...)" in: Kultura przeworska a reńsko-wezerska strefa kulturowa. s. 199, by Artur Błażejewski, 2007
3. Archaeological Motorway by Ryszard Naglik, Archeologia Żywa (Living Archeology), special English issue 2005
4. Archeological Museum in Kraków web site
5. U źródeł Polski, p. 100-105, Tadeusz Makiewicz
6. The Archaeology of the Transit Gas Pipeline by Kazimierz Adamczyk and Marek Gierlach, Archeologia Żywa (Living Archeology) special English issue 2005
7. U źródeł Polski, p. 101-103, Tadeusz Makiewicz
8. J. P. Mallory: Przeworsk culture. W: J. P. Mallory, D. Adams: Encyclopedia Of Indo-European Culture. Routledge, 1997, s. 470. ISBN 1-884964-98-2.
9. "Land and People, p.25" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 26, 2007. Retrieved July 30, 2005.
10. Pronk-Tiethoff, Saskia. New York 2013. The Germanic loanwords in Proto-Slavic. "The Przeworsk Culture has most often been considered to be Germanic or of mixed Slavic and Germanic nature." Page 64.
11. Heather (1998, p. 38) harvtxt error: no target: CITEREFHeather1998 (help)
12. Vandals, Romans and Berbers. New Perspectives on Late Antique North Africa. A H Merrills. 2004, Ashgate. Page 35
13. "In the light of current studies the meander line on pottery of the Przeworsk culture developed from motives taken from Antiquity ornaments." in: Polish Archaeological Abstracts. Ossolineum, 1979
14. The Archaeology of early medieval Poland. A Buzko. Brill 2008. Page 62

Resources

• Mallory, James P.; Adams, Douglas Q. (1997), Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture, Taylor & Francis, ISBN 1-884964-98-2
• Todd, Malcolm (1996-02-12), The Early Germans, Blackwell Publishing, ISBN 0-631-19904-7
• Heather, Peter (2006), The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-515954-3
• Cunliffe, Barry; Todd, Malcolm (2001), The Oxford Illustrated History of Prehistoric Europe, Oxford, ISBN 0-19-285441-0