Rhine-Weser Teutons

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Modern classification of Germanic archaeological finds, 50 AD

As Rhein-Weser-Germanic (or Weser-Rhein-Germanic) is defined as claimed in archaeological finds Germanic strains whose settlements in the Roman Empire between the rivers Weser and the middle Rhein extended, whereby it later in the course of mass migration to a migration in Came towards the southwest against the Roman Rhine border. This relatively young term is based on archaeological finds from the 1st to 4th centuries AD, which can be roughly divided into five or six groups identified as Germanic. From the comparison of archaeological finds with ancient Roman writings, the Rhine-Weser Germanic peoples primarily count the Cherusci and Chatti as well as a number of smaller tribes named by Roman sources and located in this area, such as Usipeters , Tenkers , Sugambrers , Brukterians , Chattuarians , Chamavers and Ampsivarians . The Rhine-Weser Teutons thus represent the group from which the Franks later emerged. With regard to the Roman writers Pliny the Elder and Tacitus , the group of finds of the Rhine-Weser Germanic peoples is also equated with the Istwäonen (Istväonen).

The finds assigned to the Rhine-Weser Teutons are, however, characterized by greater heterogeneity than can be found in the other Germanic groups of finds. The predominant form of burial is the cremated grave . It is striking, however, that, contrary to the neighboring Elbe Germans, there are no richly furnished princely graves or weapons as grave goods. There has been speculation in science whether it came instead to an “immaterial” burial of weapons. This means that metallic weapons were also placed on the stake, such as a warrior's, but only the ashes of the deceased were buried in the fire places. But this is a controversial thesis. In any case, weapons as grave goods appear first in northern Gaul, i. H. on the Roman side of the Rhine, in graves with body burials and are only found on the right of the Rhine in the time of the Merovingians.

The term "Rhein-Weser-Germanen" goes back to a work by the Germanist and linguist Friedrich Maurer in 1942 and 1952 respectively. He equated the five archaeological groups with five Germanic language or dialect areas. He wanted to dissolve the previously widespread linguistic division into North German , East German and West German. Above all , Maurer wanted to deconstruct the group of West Germanic languages and divided them into North Sea Germans (Friesians, Chauken, Saxony), Elbe Germans (Alemanni, Bavarians, Longobards) and Rhine-Weser Germans (Franconia and Hesse , perhaps also Thuringians ). This equation of archaeological find groups and linguistic groups is still controversial, which is why the term is only accepted by many scientists as an archaeological term and not as a linguistic one.

Individual evidence

  1. Walter Pohl: Die Germanen ( Memento of the original from August 20, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 2004, ISBN 9783486567557 (p. 20/21) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / books.google.at
  2. Sebastian Brather: Between Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages: Archeology of the 4th to 7th Century in the West , Walter de Gruyter, 2008, ISBN 9783110200492 (pp. 81–89)