| Geographical range | Poland |
|---|---|
| Period | Iron Age |
| Dates | ca. 100–400 |
| Preceded by | Oksywie culture,Przeworsk culture |
| Followed by | Sukow-Dziedzice group |
_-_kultura_%25C5%2582u%25C5%25BCycka.JPG) |
| Prehistory and protohistory of Poland |
|---|
| Chronology |
| Stone Age Bronze and Iron Age Antiquity Early Middle Ages |
| Topics |
| Lusatian culture Biskupin Oksywie culture Wielbark culture Przeworsk culture Polish tribes |
TheWielbark culture (German:Wielbark-Willenberg-Kultur;Polish:Kultura wielbarska) is anIron Age archaeological complex that flourished on the territory of today'sPoland from the1st century[1] to the5th century.[2]
The Wielbark culture is associated with theGoths and relatedGermanic peoples, and played an important role in theAmber Road. It displays cultural links not only with its neighbours, but also with southernScandinavia. The Wielbark culture replaced the precedingOksywie culture on the lowerVistula in the 1st century, and subsequently expanded southwards at the expense of thePrzeworsk culture, which is associated with theVandals. This expansion has been associated by historians such asPeter Heather with the contemporaryMarcomannic Wars. By the late 3rd century, the Wielbark culture had expanded into the area of the upperDniester, where it possibly influenced theChernyakhov culture to its south, which encompassed a large area between theDanube and theDon River.
In the 5th century, the Wielbark culture was replaced by theSukow-Dziedzice group, which is associated with theEarly Slavs.
TheWielbark culture was named after the once-Prussian village, known in German as Willenberg, where a burial place with over 3,000 tombs, was discovered and partially recorded in 1873.
The "first modern description" of the culture was not until the work of Ryszard Wołągiewicz in the 1970s. The cemetery's completeness and long period of use was the reason this site was chosen to name the culture, which "spans all the phases of Wielbark culture as well as phases predating its emergence and thus dating to the earlier, pre-Roman period".[3]
Many of the cemetery stones were moved, and many graves were damaged by the early discoverers, particularly during theSecond World War.
Before 1 AD, when theRoman Empire began to be more influential in northern Europe, there was relative consistency in burial practices between theRhine andVistula. Bodies were normally cremated and there were few grave goods, if any. This began to change, possibly reflecting increasing social stratification. The Wielbark culture, for example, is distinguished by its occasional use of monumental "barrow" burials.[4]
The Wielbark culture is primarily differentiated from its predecessor the Oksywie culture by the introduction of inhumation as opposed to cremation, which began around 1 AD. Notably, the Wielbark culture used both rituals. Despite this, there is also evidence for continuity between the two cultures. This is interpreted as being caused by an evolution in spiritual culture.[5]
The neighbouring Przeworsk culture, on the other hand, long continued to practice cremation, and whereas Wielbark burials never included weapons, Przeworsk burials often did. In the second century AD however, the burial practices of the Wielbark culture began to spread into Przeworsk areas.[6]
Instead, the artifacts found are mostly ornaments and costumes, although a few graves have shownspurs, these being the only warrior attributes found. The people of the Wielbark culture used bothinhumation andcremation techniques for burying their dead.[7]
The Wielbark culture played an important role in theAmber Road.[7][8] A complex series of wooden bridges and causeways built by the Wielbark culture were probably connected to this trade.[9]
The Wielbark culture appears to have practiced mixed agriculture. Their lack of agricultural expertise made their fields less fertile, which caused the population to be quite mobile.[10] Several settlements however remained stable for hundreds of years.[10]
A characteristic of the Wielbark culture, which it had in common with southern Scandinavia, was the raising of stone covered mounds,stone circles, solitarystelae and variations of cobble cladding. These stone circles might have been places of communal meetings.[10]
The Wielbark culture displays several characteristics similar to those of the Chernyakhov culture.[11] This includes the creation of handmade bowl-shaped ceramics, the wearing by females offibula brooches on each shoulder, the presence of Germaniclonghouses, the practice of both cremation and inhumation, and the lack of weapons deposited in burials.[12]
Another feature of the Wielbark culture was the use of bronze to make ornaments and accessories. Silver was used seldom and gold rarely. Iron appears to have been used extremely rarely. In 2000, inCzarnówko nearLębork, Pomerania, a cemetery of Oksywie and Wielbark cultures was found. These reached their height before the emigration of the population to the south began. A bronze kettle depicts males wearing theSuebian knot hairstyle.[13]
The Wielbark culture emerged in the 1st century AD around the same area as theOksywie culture, around the present day towns ofGdańsk andChełmno.[7] Whether the Wielbark culture was an outgrowth of the Oksywie culture or represents a new population is disputed. The increasing density of Wielbark centuries after its establishment suggests that it experienced significant population growth during its existence.[6]
During the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, the Wielbark culture expanded into the lakelands (Kashubian and Krajenskian lakes) and stretched southwards, into the region aroundPoznań. Here it ejected thePrzeworsk culture, which is often associated with theVandals.[14][6] Rather than being entirely replaced, archaeological evidence suggest that the Przeworsk were to a certain extent absorbed by the Wielbark. The southward expansion of the Wielbark burial habits has been connected with the beginning of theMarcomannic Wars.[6] By 200 AD, people of the Wielbark culture appear to have been recruited as soldiers in theRoman Army.[6]
In the first half of the 3rd century AD, the Wielbark culture expanded southwards along the Vistula andBug towards the upperDniester. Meanwhile, Pomeranian settlements by theBaltic Sea were somewhat, but not entirely,[15] abandoned.[12] This expansion was swifter and on an even larger scale than previous ones, and represented a significant shift of Wielbark power towards the south.[12][16] Archaeological and linguistics evidence suggest that the expansion involved both men, women and children.[17][16] The Gothic attack onHistria in 238 is probably connected with this expansion.[12] North of theBlack Sea, the Wielbark culture played a decisive role in the formation of theChernyakhov culture in the late 3rd century AD, which by the 4th century AD would cover a huge area between theDanube and theDon River.[14][18] Though historically controversial, it is now universally accepted that the origins of the Chernyakhov culture lie primarily in the Wielbark culture, and that the former represents a culture dominated by the Goths and other Germanic peoples.[12]
Isolated pockets of the Wielbark culture continued to exist in current northern Poland until the 5th century AD.[2][15] From then it was replaced by theSukow-Dziedzice group, which is associated withEarly Slavs.[19]
The Wielbark culture has been described by archaeologists as a culture which contained both Germanic and non-Germanic people, which developed from the previous Oksywie material culture, with some influences from Scandinavia.[20] Roman authors described theGutones,Rugii andLemovii as living in the same approximate area.
The Gutones have traditionally been equated to the ancestors of theGoths fromScandza (Scandinavia) toGothiscandza as related inJordanes' account of their origin. While such Scandinavian influence may well have played a part, the identical geographical extent and persistent use of Oksywie cemeteries suggest that the Wielbark Culture emerged from previous human settlements in the area, with new groups of Scandinavian immigrants making contributions to it as they arrived.[21][7]
Based upon the accounts of Jordanes andTacitus, many historians and archaeologists believe that the culture was politically dominated by the ancestors of theGoths,Rugii andGepids who are later described in Roman and Greek sources further south, living north of the imperial border on the Danube.[22][6] Along with the neighbouringPrzeworsk culture, historianPeter Heather places it in theGermanic cultural horizon.[23][a] In the past, the Wielbark culture was often connected withEarly Slavs, but such theories have been dismissed by modern scholarship.[6][25]
The cemeteries may give some indication in evidence as to which settlements could have been established directly by Goths.Barrow cemeteries on the Baltic Sea in Poland, which have raisedstone circles, and solitarystelae next to them, reflect Scandinavian burial customs with a concentration inGotland andGötaland. Appearing in the later 1st century, this type is found between the Vistula and theKashubian and Krajenskian lakelands (Odry and Węsiory sites) reaching into the Koszalin region (Grzybnica site).[26]
Odontological analysis revealed that the Central European populations from theRoman period and theEarly Middle Ages were indistinguishable in terms of non-metrical dental traits, though this does not exclude the possibility of genetically different origins.[27]
Juras et al. (2014) compared themtDNA of the Wielbark culture and thePrzeworsk culture, both belonging to theRoman Iron Age (RoIA) with that of populations from Poland in theMiddle Ages. 24 samples of mtDNA from the Wielbark sites ofKowalewko (11) andRogowo (13) were examined. Wielbark samples were found to be primarily carrying types ofhaplogroup H, while types ofU andW were also frequent. It was found that the mtDNA of the RoiA populations was largely similar to that of medieval populations, although they displayed closer genetic relations to populations of northern and central Europe, while medieval populations on the other hand displayed closer genetic relations toSlavs of eastern and southern Europe. The mtDNA of the RoIA samples were found to be more closely related toPoles than any other modern population, while similarities withBalts and otherWest Slavs were also detected.[1]
Stolarek et al. (2018) examined the mtDNA of 60 individuals buried at the Wielbark cemetery of Kowalewko in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. The majority of the individuals carried types of haplogroup H and U. Notably, they displayed higher frequencies ofU5b (a typicallyWestern Hunter-Gatherer lineage) than preceding and succeeding populations in the area. Compared to some ancient DNA samples, the male mitochondrial mix was found to be most closely related to Iron AgeJutland and late Neolithic Central EuropeanBell Beaker culture samples. The females were most similar to Early-Middle Neolithic farmers.[28]
Stolarek et al. (2019) examined the mtDNA of 27 individuals from a Wielbark cemetery inMasłomęcz, Poland. The remains were from the 2nd to 4th centuries AD. Based on archaeological evidence, these individuals were assumed to beGoths. They were found to be mostly carriers of haplogroup H and U. The individuals displayed even closer genetic links to Iron Age populations of southern Scandinavia than those of Kowalewko did. Males and females at Masłomęcz were more closely related to each other than those at Kowalewko. They also carried fewer samples of U5b, and displayed less strong genetic links to the Yamanya culture, Corded Ware culture, Bell Beaker culture and Unetice culture than earlier Wielbark samples from Kowalewko.[14]
Zenczak et al. (2017) assignedY-DNA haplogroups to 16 individuals buried at the Kowalewko archeological site associated with the Wielbark culture. In total, 8 out of 16 samples were assigned to haplogroupI1. Out of the samples dated to theRoman Iron Age, 3 samples belonged to haplogroupI1 under the subclade I1-L1237 of the I1-Z63 branch, one toR1b, and one toI2a2.[29]
Y-chromosome analysis of Goths from the Masłomęcz group cemeteries in southeastern Poland. A total of 14 individuals (78%) represents the Y chromosome haplogroups most closely related to the Scandinavian population. Thirteen individuals were classified into subclades of haplogroup I1, four to haplogroup R1a and one to haplogroup J2b.[30]
Stolarek et al. (2023) tested several individuals buried in Wielbark culture cemeteries. The Y-chromosomes were 1 E (E1b1b1a1b1a), 1 F, 5 G2a (two G2a2b2a1a1b1a1a2 and three more with derived subclades), 19I1-M253 with SNPs below L1237, Z2039 and P109, 1 I2a1b1, 1 J2b2a1, 1 J2a1a, 2 N1a, 2 R1a1a, 1 with derived R1a-M458, and 6 R1b (three of them with SNPs below U106).[31]
A 2024 study published in Nature found that the population of the Wielbark culture derived 75% of their ancestry from a population similar to the people of the Scandinavian Early Iron Age.[32]
_Frauengrab_des_2._Jahrhunderts_n._Chr._aus_Bagicz.png)
_Pottery_vessel_found_at_Resko%2c_Pomerania_-_Elbe_-_Weser_horizon%2c_5th_century.jpg)
_Glass_beakers_from_a_graves_found_in_Pomerania%2c_Witkowice%2c_Borkowice%2c_second_half_of_the_4th_c.jpg)
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link){{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
54°02′N19°03′E / 54.033°N 19.050°E /54.033; 19.050
| International | |
|---|---|
| Other | |
