Rüssen Group

Ceramics from the Rüssen Group (above)

The Rüssen Group was an early Slavic archaeological ceramic group from the 7th to 8th centuries in what is now Saxony , Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia .

It extended from the White Elster and the middle Elbe to the northern Thuringian Basin .

It is named after the Rüssen pottery from Rüssen on the White Elster. The division was made around 1980 by the archaeologist Heinz-Joachim Vogt.

Other important sites were

• Eythra (near Leipzig )
• Dessau-Mosigkau
• Mutzschen
• Altengroitzsch
• Magdeborn (near Leipzig)
• Rohnstedt ( Kyffhäuserkreis )

The carriers of the culture were the early Slavic tribes of the Sorbs (at that time name for all tribes in the area between the Elbe and Saale!)

Emergence

The Rüssen group emerged from the Prague culture in the 7th century . It is related to the simultaneous Slavic Feldberger group , the Chodlik group and the Luka Rajky culture .

Settlements

The settlements were on rivers and lakes and were mostly unfortified.

Ceramics

The ceramic was decorated with wavy ribbons of various shapes. The surface was uneven and had a reddish-ocher or gray to gray-brown color.

The main forms were high stand-up pots with an egg-shaped or slightly double-conical body, small spherical or slightly double-conical cup-like vessels with a base and simple bowls. The ceramics were hand-formed, some of them probably standing on the ground.

Funeral culture

Corpses were buried in urns on grave fields.

Succession cultures

In the 9th century the culture developed into the Rötha group .

literature

• Sebastian Brather:  Slavic ceramics. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 29, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-018360-9 , pp. 79-88.

Remarks

1. ^ Heinz-Joachim Vogt: Wiprechtsburg Groitzsch , 1978