TY - JOUR
TI - Not only the Tisa River basin. The martial activities of the Przeworsk culture peoples and their allies in the Roman Period
AU - Kontny, Bartosz
TI - Not only the Tisa River basin. The martial activities of the Przeworsk culture peoples and their allies in the Roman Period
AB - The author presents the movements of the Przeworsk culture warriors basing on written and archaeological sources but utilizes also the results of anthropological research. The warriors participated in military enterprises, viz. the raids but also more important ventures aimed at different areas (i.a. to the north – Vimose on Funen, and south-east – Čatyr Dag on Crimean Peninsula). Anthropological studies suggest that what was important for them was not the permanent direction, but tantalizing goals accomplishable in a military way. Possibly the warriors participated in retinues, also multi-ethnical ones, as described by Tacitus. It seems possible that the Przeworsk culture warriors occasionally collaborated with the Balts, but also the Wielbark culture warriors. Whether they occupied a privileged position among the Barbarians is still uncertain, but the Przeworsk culture forms of weapons imported and imitated in neighbouring cultures seem to suggest that for a long time they were treated as ‘role model’ warriors. The loss of their leading military impact in the Younger Roman Period should be linked with the increasing position of the Scandinavians with their well-equipped and stratified armies, probably fighting in the battle order. Written sources and weapons appearing as elements of grave furnishing, although not so frequent due to changes in the burial rite, suggest that it did not erase Przeworsk culture zealots from the military sphere. Detailed studies of sacrificial bog/watery sites, found in the territory of Poland, Scandinavia, and maybe also Lithuania and Latvia, have allowed finding further evidences of distant warlike expeditions.
VL - 2019
IS - Vol LIV
PY - 2019
SN - 0001-5229
C1 - 2719-4841
SP - 159
EP - 190
DO - 10.4467/00015229AAC.19.009.11886
UR - https://ejournals.eu/en/journal/acta-archaeologica-carpathica/article/not-only-the-tisa-river-basin-the-martial-activities-of-the-przeworsk-culture-peoples-and-their-allies-in-the-roman-period
KW - Przeworsk culture
KW - warfare
KW - Barbaricum
KW - sacrificial sites
KW - retinue