Wikinger und Balten an der Memel : die Ausgrabungen des frühgeschichtlichen Gräberfeldes von Linkuhnen in Ostpreußen 1928-1939
LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Mažoji Lietuva; Archeologija; Kapinynai; Palaidojimai; Archeologiniai radiniai; Lithuania Minor; Archaeology; Graveyard; Burials; Archaeological finds.
ENIn his preliminary notes on the cemetery of Linkuhnen, Carl Engel repeatedly emphasised the pre-eminent position and the unique nature of the finds at this site 1613. Yet is Linkuhnen really such an exception among the protohistoric cemeteries along the Memel River and in the neighbouring regions? To which cultural environment did the local burial community consider itself to belong? In the following these questions shall be addressed, in particular by reference to the occupancy of Linkuhnen in the Viking Age, but preceded by a few brief comments on the Roman Iron Age and the Migration Period.With regard to burial rites and grave goods, the Phases 2-4 of Linkuhnen correspond to the cultural groups of the late Roman and Migration Periods in Lithuania 1614; there are also a few connections to the Dollkeim/Kovrovo culture of Natangia and the Sambia Peninsula 1615. Furthermore, the finds of a bow fibula (Blechbügelfibel) from Grave 178/1933 (plate 82,4) as well as a "Slavic" bow fibula from Grave 201 A/1933 (plate 87,1) from the late 6th or 7th centuries hint at contacts of the lower Memel region in the direction of South East Europe 1616. A first peak of occupancy in Linkuhnen can be observed in the 5th and 6th centuries (Phase 3). [...] The Viešvilė site, situated around 40 km upstream on the Memel River on the Lithuanian riverside, is of major importance for the understanding of Linkuhnen. For more than ten years the museum in Trakai did research in Viešvilė 1634, where two Viking age cemeteries with the related settlements and a further, earlier burial ground have been detected 1635.In particular the cremation graves from Necropolis I, laid out - as Linkuhnen - on a hill above the Memel bank, show numerous direct parallels to this cemetery: larger pits with a concentration of cremated remains in wooden caskets, partly wrapped in cloth; grave goods of up to six swords and up to five spearheads (mostly of type E according to Petersen) in one burial complex, with the weapons usually severely bent. A part of the weapon graves also contained cremated remains from women and children as well as those from men. There were also some inhumation graves of children. By contrast Necropolis III, presumably from the same period, delivered only the inhumation burials of women and children together with a few cremation graves. Their ensembles of costume elements show parallels in the entire Baltic Sea Region 1636. The wealth of the weapon grave goods in Linkuhnen is therefore by no means singular in the Memel area, although still extremely remarkable in comparison with the Prussian or Curonian settlement areas. Whereas such a wealth of weapon grave goods is absolutely unique for other regions of the North and Baltic Seas with a Viking influence: at least 147 swords, respectively fragments of such, were found in 89 graves of the 9th-11th centuries in Linkuhnen and, in addition to these, 12 Viking Age swords as stray finds and five examples without age determination. Nine ULFBERHT blades are among these swords. Hence Linkuhnen is the site with the most ULFBERHT swords in Europe 1637. A similar picture emerges with the spearheads: 349 examples of the 9th-11th centuries have been recorded from 85 graves; this is an average of more than three spearheads per grave. As regards the classification of cemeteries such as Linkuhnen or Viešvilė, the cultural autonomy of the local burial and settlement communities is beyond question.The sources from the times of the Teutonic Order record a tribe of Scalovians / Skalvians 1638, located between Prussians, Curonians and the Lithuanian Samogitians with the centre of the landscape near Tilsit and Ragnit (fig. 105); weapon finds from the Viking Age 1639 and burials from the Roman Period have likewise been ascertained here 1640. It is likely that the cemeteries of Linkuhnen and Viešvilė can be associated with this group. The burial rites as the grave goods show many specifically local patterns 1641; at the same time, the groups were also integrated in a trans-regional network which encompassed the whole of the Baltic Sea Region and even included Western and Central Europe. Linkuhnen is situated virtually at an intersection between the Prussian and Curonian settlement areas. [...] Apart from the archaeological records Linkuhnen is, from todays perspective - almost 90 years after the first excavations - also an exceptional site in the history of research, since it shows in a very graphic way the close linking of archaeology and politics in the German prehistoric research after the First World War. The original archaeological interpretations cannot be separated from the political framework conditions and the personal ambitions of the excavator Carl Engel. After 1945 the archaeological finds of East Prussia and their excavators had largely disappeared from the focus of German archaeology (fig. 108). Nevertheless, the re-contextualisation of the East Prussian early finds and the use of the most diverse archival sources remain indispensable for modern Polish, Russian and Lithuanian research in this region so rich in archaeological finds. It is to be hoped, that our attempt to reconstruct Linkuhnen's "city of the dead" can contribute to strengthening the ties of the network of joint international research even more in the future. [From the publication]
