English revised by Alan Crozier & Carole Gillis.
This book deals with the transformation of imported Roman vessels in Germania Magna during the Roman Iron Age, 1-400 AD. The concept of transformation in this context refers to the various ways these objects were interpreted, physically altered and consequently changed with regard to their function and meaning. Roman vessels in Germanic contexts are often regarded as evidence for Rome’s economic and socio-political influence on the tribes beyond the imperial boarders. Some scholars interpret them as an "imitatio imperii", that is, as expressions of a Romanized lifestyle among the local elites. In this book, however, it is argued that imported objects must be studied using perspectives that acknowledge interpretation and transformation as central elements in cultural interaction. It revolves around three case studies. The first one, on ritualization, investigates how vessels of Roman origin were utilized in Germanic funerary rituals. The second case study on hybridization focusses on the combination of actual Roman vessels or vessel forms with local stylistic features, resulting in new expressions in the material culture. The third study deals with the fragmentation of glass, more exactly, the intentional deposition of glass fragments in graves. Based on these cases, the book explores what happens when a category of foreign objects is appropriated by a society, what happens in the encounter between local traditions and new social situations and new material culture, and what those encounters result in.
Author(s): Fredrik Ekengren
Series: Acta Archaeologica Lundensia, Series in Prima 4°, 28
Publisher: Lund University
Year: 2009
Language: English
Pages: 314
1. PRELIMINARIES 11
1.1 Aim of the study 12
2. THE CULTURAL EMBEDDEDNESS OF THINGS – NAVIGATING BETWEEN TRANSMISSION AND TRANSFORMATION 15
2.1 The diffusionist’s blind spot 17
2.2 From structure to dialectics 19
2.2.1 Tradition and transformation 20
2.3 Consumption as production 24
2.4 Approach and outline of the thesis 29
RITUALIZATION
3. RITUAL, TRADITION AND POWER – RITUALIZATION IN PRINCELY SETTINGS 31
3.1 The princely graves of the Early Roman Iron Age 32
3.2 The princely graves of the Late Roman Iron Age 34
3.3 The mortuary rituals as operational context 37
3.3.1 The rite of passage 39
3.3.2 Rituals as practice 40
3.3.3 Converging horizons 42
3.3.4 The methodological challenge 45
3.3.4.1 Vessels in ritual sequences 45
3.3.4.2 Spatial arrangements of vessels 46
3.3.4.3 Levels of meaning 47
3.4 Presentation of the material 47
3.5 Display, deposition, concealment – Ritual sequences in the graves 49
3.6 The choreography of the grave 61
3.6.1 Disrupted space 61
3.6. Animated bodies 65
3.7 Conceptual structures – sets and compositions 72
3.7.1 Large containers and vessels for scooping/pouring and drinking 76
3.7.2 Single-category arrangements 82
3.7.3 Domestic utility 83
3.8 Roman drinking 86
3.8.1 Death and drinking in the Roman world 92
3.8.1.1 The funerary banquet motif 94
3.8.2 Roman functions 95
3.9 A Roman way of death? 104
3.9.1 Large vessel assemblages 106
3.10 Constructing identities of the dead and the living 110
3.10.1 Composing the deceased 113
3.10.2 Outside the coffin… and beyond 123
HYBRIDIZATION
4. MULTIPLE BEGINNINGS – IMITATION AND HYBRIDITY 127
4.1 The silver vessels 128
4.2 Native traits 135
4.2.1 Form and ornamentation 136
4.3 The Germanic pottery 141
4.3.1 Chevron patterns 141
4.3.2 Spicatum patterns 144
4.3.3 Cross-hatching 146
4.3.4 Zonal or metope-like friezes 146
4.4 Threads of influence 146
4.5 Craft traditions and Romanization 148
4.5.1 The itinerant artisan 149
4.6 Refracted identities 152
4.6.1 Amalgamation and hybridization 155
FRAGMENTATION
5. SHATTERED BUT NOT BROKEN – THE RITUAL USE OF GLASS SHARDS 159
5.1 Shards in graves 161
5.2 Observations and previous interpretations 174
5.3 The Greco-Roman obolus tradition 178
5.4 The obolus tradition and Germanic graves 182
5.5 Fragmentation practices in the Roman Iron Age 191
5.5.1 Pottery 191
5.5.2 Metal vessels 195
5.5.3 Beads 197
5.5.4 Weapons 198
5.6 Shards of a socio-ritual arena 99
5.6.1 A biographical approach 200
6. ALLUSION AND REFRACTION – SUMMARY CONCLUSIONS 209
Appendix 1 217
Appendix 2 229
Appendix 3 271
BIBLIOGRAPHY 273
