This paper deals with the rare silver bowls found at Kriimani and Varnja in eastern Estonia in the 19th century. The vessels are outwardly similar and have been made in the Byzantine Empire in the late 5th -early 6th century. There are four impressed control stamps of the reign of the Emperor Anastasius I (491-518 AD) on the bottom of the vessel from Varnja. In the paper an archaeological and art historical overview of silverware has been given and the questions of how and why such luxury items reached so far north are being discussed. Also S. Felten's, a jeweller-conservator's vision of how the Kriimani vessel had been made and how the only partly survived artefact was restored, has been added.

The Vandals left no origo gentis even though history is an essential factor for the construction of group identity. But the creation of memory in the Vandal kingdom in North Africa can be reconstructed with archaeological sources. For this an attempt by looking for visualisations in the form of images and inscriptions in Vandal Period Africa is made and interpreted against the background of “creating memory”. These observations are based on “official” visualisations. They are a sort of propaganda and because of this are contained within the content of the ideological superstructure. The created memory is addressed to the various groups living under Vandal rule. It is addressed to the former Roman administration, to the inhabitants of Carthage and Christianity as a whole. Only in the private sphere could the tradition of a family genealogy be seen, most probably needed for legitimation – and, if there was a need for this, it points to internal conflicts.