Heralds of the late Roman period or some remarks about the Balt fibulae type Almgren 133
ENThe fibulae of the West Balt lands, universally recognisable as type Almgren 133, were first studied by Oscar Almgren in his remarkable study Studien über nordeuropäische Fibelformen... (1897). He defined them as the local version of his group V, series 5. However, the exclusivity of the shape of the fibulae, found merely in East Prussia, was first noticed by Otto Tischler (1879, 198, pl. III:21). Later all the authors who wrote about that type of fibulae, based on their unique shape and distribution indicated that the piece of jewellery originated in the Masurian Lakeland. Professor Wojciech Nowakowski, to whom the paper is dedicated, identified the Bogaczewo Culture in the Masurian Lakeland as an ethno-cultural phenomenon with reference to archaeological data and written sources. In the context of his search for exclusive ethno-cultural traits, Nowakowski saw an ethnic identifier in the Almgren 133 type fibulae therefore, they got the name of bogaczewskie fibule typu A. 133. In other words, the fibulae were not merely pieces of jewellery that were formed in the Bogaczewo Culture environment: they were also an attribute of belonging to the Galindoi (Γαλίνδαι) tribe, mentioned by Ptolemy in his Geography (Γεωγραφική Ὑφήγησις) (W. Nowakowski 1991, 54; 1995, 40; 2003, 8; J. Andrzejowski, A. Cieśliński 2007, 292).As argued by Almgren, the prototypes of the fibulae type 133 were the brooches of group 5, series 8, types 120–131 (O. Almgren 1897, 68, pl. VI:120–131). He also argued that the prototypes close to the type 133 were brooches of series 8, types 116–117, prevalent on the island of Bornholm; they had a characteristic rectangular, ornate head plate, covering the spring (O. Almgren 1897, 68). However, in the Bogaczewo Culture area they were found merely in grave 360 at the Nikutowo/ Nikutowen cemetery, Mrągowo County (M. Schmiedehelm 2011, 97)1. Therefore, it was believed that the impact of the Bornholm fibulae on the origin of the type 133 could not be convincingly justified (A. Juga 2001, 110; A. Juga-Szymańska 2004, 108). However, the recent decades research on the contacts on the Baltic Sea area quite clearly confirmed the fact that the relationships of West Balts with Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea islands were intense (cf. L. Tamulynas 2005, 89; R. Banytė-Rowell 2007b, 27–28, fig. 4; B. Kontny 2013, 136–138, fig. 3; O.A. Homâkova 2012b, 153–155; A. Bliujienė 2013, fig. 62) and therefore that kind of impact at the level of cultural ideas was quite likely. In the Wielbark and Dollkeim-Kovrovo Cultures graves dated to phases B2b, B2c and B2/C1a not only fibulae Almgren type 126–130 but also fibulae type 116–117 were found, which could have also influenced the appearance of the type 133 (cf. M. Tuszyńska 2005, 47; K. Skvorzov 2007, 117, pl. 2:2; M. Natuniewicz-Sekuła, J. Okulicz-Kozaryn 2011, 29, pl. VII/22:1; O.A. Homâkova 2012a, 59–63, fig. 9:1–7). Thus, the fibulae Almgren 133 basically documented the development of small brooches, profiled, with a flared triangular or trapezoidal foot and a head crest at the spring, as well as a high fastening catch-plate.Moreover, the type Almgren 133 was related to its Germanic prototypes by the imitation of ornamentation elements. It is important to know that the Germanic patterns, prevalent in Barbaricum, and the fibulae Almgren 133 co-existed in terms of time. The latter were pieces of jewellery which were formed in the West Balt environment, simultaneously possessing the traits of the profiled fibulae and the ladder fibulae which appeared at the end of the existence of the former (cf. Fig. 2:7)2. Therefore, in the Lithuanian historiographical tradition, they had been discussed as ladder fibulae of group 1 (M. Michelbertas 1986, 115–116) or, based on the Almgren’s typology, as type 133 (R. Banytė-Rowell, A. Bitner-Wróblewska 2005, 114–115, fig. 8; A. Bliujienė 2013, 394, fig. 263). However, the fibulae of type Almgren 133 found in Lithuania or north of Nemunas (Memel/Neman) River, have never been exhaustively discussed, even though they have been mentioned in different publications under different names since the 1930s (cf. H. Moora 1938, 79, fig. 18:1–3; R. Kulikauskienė, R. Rimantienė 1958, 326, fig. 175; W. Nowakowski 1991, 54, fig. 5; 1995, 40; 1998, 199, fig. 5; M. Michelbertas 1986, 114–155; 2004, 47, 109, fig. 37:2; A. Astrauskas 1998, 23, fig. 10; A. Juga 2001, 110; R. Banytė-Rowell, A. Bitner-Wróblewska 2005, 114–115, fig. 8; R. Banytė-Rowell 2007a, 75, fig. 22:7; M. Bertašius 2005, 31, pl. CLXXIX:2; 2007, 252, fig. 2). Therefore, the present small-scale paper aims to discuss in greater detail the distribution of these fibulae in Lithuania, their chronology, and the nuances of their typology, manufacturing technology, and ornamentation. [Introduction]
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