The Burials of the Hunnish Period Bowmen in Northern Illyricum
Погребения лучников гуннского времени в Северном Иллирикуме
Résumé
The paper considers two burials with bows of the Hunnish period from the Northern Illyricum
territory. They contained bone laths of a bow – Singidunum IV (ancient Singidunum), grave 2/2006
and Vranja, grave 2. A 120–150 cm long bow with bone laths was the Huns’ principal weapon. For
the Migration period there are two main regions where burials with bow bone laths were spread:
Russian-Ukrainian steppes and the Middle Danube region. The Migration period burials with
bow bone laths are known both among steppe peoples and among sedentary barbarians. The bow
containing graves in Northern Illyricum can be identified as belonging to the “upper middle class”
barbarians of the Middle Danube. In the age of Attila there appeared a group of burial grounds on
the Middle Danube that contained graves with weapons, including bows and arrows, that are an
archeological evidence of smaller militarized formations (“the barbarian kingdoms”), to an extent
controlled by the Hunns. In these sites’ materials, particularly, in military gear and horse harness,
the steppe influence is clearly traced. They were left by a culturally heterogeneous population, that
had partially arrived to the Danube region from outer territories. The emergence of these groups
of sites is connected with transformations of a military, political and cultural character, generated
by the Hunns’ entrenchment on the Middle Danube. After the fall of the Huns’ “empire” these
militarized groups eventually form an alliance with the Roman empire. These formations are budding
“barbarian” kingdoms – gentes of the post Hunnish period, that appear both at the Roman
provinces’ territories, and in the adjacent Barbaricum. Presumably, the Northern Illyricum sites
constitute one of such groups.
Domaines
Sciences de l'Homme et SociétéOrigine | Accord explicite pour ce dépôt |
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