Wiskiauten

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Coordinates: 54 ° 55 ′ 25 ″  N , 20 ° 28 ′ 40 ″  E

Viking age burial ground and settlement network of Wiskiauten
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location Kaliningrad Oblast , Russia
Location near Zelenogradsk
Viking Age burial ground and settlement network of Wiskiauten (Kaliningrad Oblast)
Viking age burial ground and settlement network of Wiskiauten
When Viking Age, 9th to 11th centuries AD
Where near Selenogradsk , Kaliningrad Oblast / Russia
displayed Mostly kept as a collection in the Prussia archive of the Museum for Prehistory and Early History - State Museums of Prussian Cultural Heritage in Berlin

Under the name Wiskiauten , a Viking Age (800-1050 AD) burial ground first entered the literature with over 500 burial mounds in a forest near the village of the same name (after 1945 Mochowoje , Russian Моховое ) near Selenogradsk (Cranz) in the Russian Oblast Kaliningrad ( Koenigsberg Region (Prussia) , in former East Prussia ) is located. Traces of settlement in the immediate vicinity have been documented since 2005 at the latest.

Wiskiauten is mentioned in 1291 as de Autekaym (Prussian for "high-lying village"). In 1383 the name veld of Wissecawten (Prussian "Allestöter", synonym for hero) appears for the first time .

Since its discovery in 1865 in a small wood called “Kaup” (Prussian for “elevated position”, literally “pile”), the Viking Age burial ground of Wiskiauten with its barrows and an as yet unknown number of flat graves has employed various generations of researchers.

German research

By the beginning of the Second World War, German archaeologists uncovered around 300 graves and brought numerous weapons, traditional costumes and jewelry to light. The finds are predominantly Scandinavian in character. These include numerous swords , lances and stirrup and oval shells - and cans brooches, bracelets, but also dirhams (Arab silver coins) and various jewelry pendant, each with their counterparts in Sweden , on Gotland and less pronounced in Denmark found.

Most of these finds and the original excavation documentation were housed in the Prussia Museum in Königsberg Castle , where the Amber Room had also been on display since 1941 . Shortly before the end of the war, this collection was evacuated due to the risk of destruction and hidden in various places in Königsberg and other places and was subsequently considered lost. Although some excavation results were published in archaeological journals before the war, these publications could never compensate for the loss of the originals. It was not until 60 years later that large parts of the collection were rediscovered, including materials on Wiskiauten, most of which are now stored in the Prussia archive of the Museum of Prehistory and Early History - Staatliche Museen Preußischer Kulturbesitz in Berlin .

Russian research

After the end of the war in 1945, Russian research carried out excavations in the "Kaup" burial mound field. About 30 graves were examined during this period. Again mainly Scandinavian finds came to light.

The Scandinavian finds in the region otherwise populated by Prussia and the foreign barrows led to the interpretation that the burial ground belonged to a Scandinavian trading establishment that was to be found nearby. This settlement must have been connected to the Viking Age trade network around the Baltic Sea and probably had contacts with Birka , Grobiņa (Seeburg), Haithabu , Paviken (Gotland), Truso , Wollin and other ports. The amber found in the region comes into question as a commodity .

The settlement presumed by the burial ground could never - apart from a few singular finds - be clearly localized, but was assumed to be the nearby Prussian town of Cranz .

German-Russian research

Since 2005 a joint Russian-German research project has been trying to find the settlement. The investigations are the Center for Baltic and Scandinavian Archeology (ZBSA) in the Foundation Schleswig-Holstein regional museums at Gottorf Castle and the so-called Baltic expedition of the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences conducted Moscow.

From January 1, 2007 until the end of the excavation in 2011, the research project was supported with substantial human and material resources from the German Research Foundation (DFG).

Above all, the geomagnetic investigation method was used over a large area. Since then, a total of almost 200 hectares around the burial site has been "scanned". Several thousand structures were documented that could point to archaeological objects. In the meantime, 200 of the so-called anomalies have been investigated by drilling, whereby in 70% of the cases archaeological findings from different times can actually be assumed. In the meantime 22 smaller excavations with a total area of ​​more than 2000 m² have been undertaken, which have produced several wells, traces of houses in post construction and various other findings such as ovens or waste pits. The findings belong altogether to the period from the 5th to the 13th century.

In two places in the northwest and in the east of the burial ground there are indications of a relatively early settlement beginning in the 5th century. It represents a Prussian settlement phase.

In the 9th and 10th centuries, both sites are still in use as settlement areas. The eastern settlement, on the edge of an inland lake that is now silted up, breaks off at the same time as the cemetery is occupied. A small section of this settlement has been excavated. At least four house floor plans were uncovered on an area of ​​60 × 20 m. Finds of a dirhem , a belt fitting or a sword pommel suggest that this settlement can most likely be associated with the Scandinavians. There are no findings from the 11th and 12th centuries here.

The north-westerly concentration of settlement finds is only sparsely proven in the 9th and 10th centuries. But the 11th and 12th centuries are strongly represented here. There are indications that this settlement continued into the 13th century, before the core of the settlement moved under the influence of the Teutonic Order to the village of Wosegau (today Vishnevoe), which is only a few dozen meters north and which still exists today.

Although the burial ground clearly contains Scandinavian finds, the excavations on the settlement areas have so far recovered almost exclusively local material, typical Scandinavian finds are missing with a few exceptions. Nevertheless, the square must be viewed as a settlement in which both native Prussians and Scandinavians lived together in a hitherto indeterminate relationship, as is proven (differently composed) for other trading centers of this time. However, this settlement was probably laid out much more spaciously than previously assumed. It does not seem to have had a real center. Rather, individual courtyards are spread over a large area in the 3 - 4 km² settlement chamber around the burial ground.

The excavations took place in the summer months from 2005 to 2011 with Bledau Castle as the starting point. The evaluation is currently running in the form of a dissertation project, the results of which are to be presented in a complete publication on the site.

literature

  • Otto Kleemann: The prehistoric finds near Cranz and the settlement of Wiskiauten. In: Prussia. 33, 1939, ISSN  0259-7845 , pp. 201-225.
  • Otto Kleemann: About the Viking settlement of Wiskiauten. and about the lows in the Curonian Spit. In: Old Prussia. 4, 1, 1939, ZDB -ID 210649-8 , pp. 4-14.
  • Birger Nerman : Sveriges första storhetstid. Skoglund, Stockholm 1942 (fairly detailed excavation report).
  • Bernt von zur Mühlen: The Viking Culture in East Prussia. Institute for Prehistory and Early History of the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Bonn 1975 (= Bonner Hefte zur Prehistory 9), ZDB -ID 186203-0 ), (images of the grave finds).
  • Hans Jänichen: The Vikings in the Oder and Vistula region . Leipzig / Kabitzsch 1938.
  • Horst Junker, Horst Wieder: The new Prussia Fund Archive in Berlin . In: Archäologisches Nachrichtenblatt 8, No. 1. 2003, pp. 3–13.
  • Vladimir I. Kulakov: The Viking Age settlement and the Kaup burial ground near Wiskiauten. Report on the excavations from 1956–2004. In: Offa. 59/60, 2002/2003 (2005), ISSN  0078-3714 , pp. 55-78.
  • Vladimir I. Kulakov: Пруссы (V. - XIII. Вв.) (English title: The old Prussians, 5th - 13th cent. AD ). Moscow 1994.
  • Christine Reich: Archeology of a Prehistoric Collection. The holdings of the former Prussia Museum in the Berlin Museum of Pre- and Early History . In: Archäologisches Nachrichtenblatt 8, No. 1. 2003, pp. 14–23.
  • Anatoly Valujev: The History of the Kaliningrad Holdings of the Prussia Collection . In: Carl von Carnap-Bornheim, Timo Ibsen, A. Valujev (eds.): The Prussia Collection - The Holdings in the Museum of History and Art Kaliningrad . Bremen 2005, pp. 28-39.
  • Timo Ibsen: The search for a needle in a haystack - New settlement research at the Viking Age site Wiskiauten / Mohovoe in the Kaliningrad region. In: Starigard. 6, 2005, ISSN  1862-4782 , pp. 124-126.
  • Timo Ibsen: The search continues - the riddle of the Viking Age settlement of Wiskiauten. In: Starigard. 8, 2007, pp. 81-87.
  • Timo Ibsen: Wiskiauten - amber from Samland. In: Archeology in Germany. 5, 2007, ISSN  0176-8522 , pp. 34-35.
  • Wojciech Wróblewski:  Wiskiauten. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 34, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2007, ISBN 978-3-11-018389-4 , pp. 140-145.
  • Timo Ibsen: The Vikings in Amber Land. In: Research. 1, 2008, ISSN  0172-1518 , pp. 16-20.
  • Timo Ibsen: Settlement archaeological research on the Viking Age site Wiskiauten / Mohovoe in the Kaliningrad region. In: Archäologisches Nachrichtenblatt. 13, 1, 2008, ISSN  0948-8359 , pp. 12-21.
  • Timo Ibsen: "About here the settlement" - The Viking Age site of Wiskiauten / Mohovoe in the Kaliningrad region in the light of old documents and new research. Written term paper to obtain the doctoral degree of the Philosophical Faculty of the Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel (Kiel 2009).
  • Timo Ibsen: Approaching a myth - on the trail of the Wiskiauten settlement. In: A. Bitner-Wróblewska, U. Lund-Hansen (Ed.): Worlds apart? Contacts across the Baltic Sea in the Iron Age (Copenhagen / Warsaw 2010), 527-546.
  • Timo Ibsen, Johannes Frenzel: In search of the early medieval settlement of Wiskiauten / Mohovoe in the Kaliningrad Region . In: Lietuvos Archeologija 36, 2010, 47–58.
  • Timo Ibsen: Вискаутен / Моховое - в поссках раннесреднеекового поселения в калининградской области . In: E. Rybina (Ed.): Novgorod Archaeological Conference 3rd Materials of The International Conference "Archeology of medieval town: For the 75th Anniversary of archaeological research of Novgorod" (Novgorod 2011), 196-205.
  • Gisela Graichen , Matthias Gretzschel: The Prussians. The fall of a people and their Prussian legacy. Scherz Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2010, ISBN 978-3-502-15172-2 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Timo Ibsen: "About here the settlement" - The early medieval discovery site Wiskiauten / Mohovoe in the Kaliningrad region in the light of old documents and new research . ( academia.edu [accessed November 28, 2018]).
  2. ↑ Timo Ibsen: Studies on the early medieval settlement landscape in Samland / former East Prussia using the example of the Wiskiauten (Mochovoe) site - Center for Baltic and Scandinavian Archeology. Retrieved November 28, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Annika Sirkin: Studies on the early medieval settlement landscape in Samland / former East Prussia using the example of the Wiskiauten (Mochovoe) site - Center for Baltic and Scandinavian Archeology. Retrieved November 28, 2018 .