State graves of Lübsow

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Fuerstengraeber Luebsow Tunnehult Luebsow 04.jpg

The early imperial grand tombs of Lübsow (also Lübsow graves ) in Pomerania (formerly Greifenberg district, now Lubieszewo, Gryfice district , West Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland ) are a source for investigating social structures during the earlier Roman Empire in Germania magna .

Fuerstengraeber Luebsow Tunnehult Luebsow 05.jpg

When collecting field stones for road construction at the beginning of the 20th century, lay people accidentally discovered and opened outstanding graves at the neighboring sites “Sandberg” and “Tunnehult” when they were recovering field stones for road construction. The unusually rich inventories place the burials of the 1st and 2nd centuries AD in a group of graves which, according to current knowledge, were resting places of members of supraregional elites. The findings of the "Princely Necropolis" Lübsow with at least six elite graves, dated to the older Roman Empire , gave the name for the "Princely graves of the Lübsow type" - the state graves of the older Roman Empire in Northern and Central Europe. The evaluation of the elite graves was the basis for a comprehensive description by Hans Jürgen Eggers in 1953.

Research history

The three elite graves (I / 1908, II / 1910 and III / 1913) from the “Sandberg” site were documented in 1908, 1910 and 1913 by Adolf Stubenrauch from the Museum Stettin. For the two elite graves that were found at the “Tunnehult” site in 1925, only the reference to a “burial chamber” has survived. Otto Kunkel , then director of the Szczecin Museum, purchased the furnishings for the museum's collection. Kunkel retained the compilation of the findings from graves 1/1925 and 2/1925. More than ten years later, in the years from 1937 to 1939, Hans Jürgen Eggers discovered a third elite grave during renewed investigations at the “Tunnehult” site and, near the “Sandberg” site, several ground-level cremation graves from the younger pre-Roman Iron Age. After the Second World War, Ryszard Wołągiewicz excavated the flat burial ground that Eggers had cut and a settlement from the Migration Period.

description

Some grave finds that came to light in Apensen, Darzau, Marwedel , Hankenbostel and Putensen in Lower Saxony on the lower Elbe were particularly richly endowed, so that they can be attributed to an upper class. Because these are body graves with elaborate grave construction, the finds from Marwedel can be assigned to the "Lübsow graves". Graves of this type, which can also be found east of the Elbe and Oder and in the Scandinavian Baltic Sea region, are not only characterized by the custom of inhumation, Roman imports, abundance of gifts and lack of weapons, but also by the elaborately designed burials in isolated small cemeteries.

In addition to the eponymous complexes, the graves of Apensen, Dollerupgaard, Hagenow, Juellinge 1 + 4, Leg Pekarsji, Marwedel 1 + 2, Repow, Schladitzsch, Schlönwitz, Skröbeshave, Store-Dal and Wichulla are undisputed Lübsow graves (17).

Examples

The two dead in Hitzacker- Marwedel received, among other things, Roman bronze buckets and drinking utensils for wine, consisting of a casserole, ladle and sieve, as well as tumblers made of glass and silver as well as drinking horns. The accessories or jewelry included brooches made of bronze and silver , a gold finger ring, silver fittings for leather shoes and belts, and bronze spurs, but no weapons. A similarly richly decorated grave in Apensen , district of Stade , can only be assigned to the "Lübsow graves" with reservation, because it is not a body burial. The corpse burn was in a Roman bronze bucket, which contained remains of Roman drinking utensils, silver beakers and drinking horn fittings. In addition, the dead man had been given a spur. The rich graves of Darzau, Hankenbostel and Putensen differ from those in Marwedel and Apensen not only because of the type of burial, but also because of the weapons they are equipped with. The princely grave of Quetzdölsdorf is also assigned to the Lübsow group.

Historical context

The body burial practice practiced in parts of the Germanic settlement area with exclusively furnished graves stands in contrast to the much more common cremation, which, however, also has so-called "splendor graves". The extent to which the early imperial body graves that can be found in various regions are linked to Celtic tradition, indigenous new developments or can be traced back to Roman influences is controversial. At the moment, the assumption that the suggestion for the introduction of the body burial custom came from the Roman provinces in both central Germany and northwestern Germany offers an explanation that fits well into the overall picture of cultural changes. Inhumations were already widespread in the Baltic Sea region during the earlier Roman Empire, while larger numbers of body burials can be found in Western Pomerania as well as in central Germany, northwestern Bohemia and southwestern Germany during the later Roman Empire. In addition to the clan structure of the Germanic tribes a political force in this period was to followers beings . Weapon capable men of all origins gathered around a follower leader and placed themselves outside of the established social structures. For example, the Cheruscan inguiomer fought as a follower on the side of the Marcomanni against his own tribe. First and foremost, the followers were out for booty, but also received dues or tributes from their own or from foreign tribes. For the archaeologist, graves are staggered according to the richness of the furnishings and the type of burial practice. They provide a social image that can be divided into rich and poor, armed and unarmed, men and women, and old and young.

Remarks

  1. ↑ See distribution map Fig. 25 from: Michael Fee :  Fürstengräber. §4.c) Older Roman Empire. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 10, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1998, ISBN 3-11-015102-2 , pp. 188-191.
  2. ↑ See Hans Jürgen Eggers : Lübsow, a Germanic princely seat of the older imperial era. In: Prehistoric Journal . Volume 34/35, No. 2. 1953, pp. 58–111, Fig. 2.
  3. ↑ Otto Kunkel : Preliminary information about new finds from the imperial era in Pomerania . In: Mannus supplementary volume 5. 1927, p. 120.
  4. ↑ See Hans Jürgen Eggers : Lübsow, a Germanic princely seat of the older imperial era. In: Prehistoric Journal . Volume 34/35, No. 2. 1953, pp. 74–80, Fig. 8, d – f.
  5. ↑ See Krystyna Hahuła, Wojciech Nowakowski:  Lübsow. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 19, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2001, ISBN 3-11-017163-5 , pp. 17-21.

literature

  • Hans Jürgen Eggers : Lübsow, a Germanic princely seat of the older imperial times. In: Prehistoric Journal . Vol. 34/35, No. 2, 1953, pp. 58-111.
  • Rolf Hachmann : On the social order of the Teutons in the time around the birth of Christ. In: Archaeologia Geographica. Vol. 5, 1956, ISSN  0066-5908 , pp. 7-24.
  • Krystyna Hahuła, Wojciech Nowakowski:  Lübsow. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 19, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2001, ISBN 3-11-017163-5 , pp. 17-21.
  • Michael Fee : On the definition of the Lübzow-type ducal graves from the early imperial period. In: Prehistoric Journal. Vol. 49, 1974, pp. 82-128, Supplement 1-4.
  • Jan Schuster: Lübsow. Prince tombs from the Middle Ages in northern Central Europe. In: Bonn contributions to prehistoric and early historical archeology 12. Bonn 2010.

Web links

Coordinates: 53 ° 55 ′ 23.5 "  N , 15 ° 14 ′ 57.1"  E