Acculturation and Ethnogenesis along the Frontier: Rome and the Ancient Germans in an Archaeological Perspective

Brather, Sebastian

doi:10.1484/m.sem-eb.3.3730

Cited by 10 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…This again is not a new subject, but is one which is recently undergoing a fresh lease of life, particularly through more in-depth investigation of interactions across frontiers, especially in the Roman world (e.g. Brather, 2005; Miller, 1996). The extension of this into the realm of colonial subjectivities, in other words the extension of ‘border thinking’ away from the limes themselves (in the Roman case), seems to be an essential next step in trying to understand such societies.…”

Section: Frontiers Boundaries and Imperial Identities – In Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Brexit, boundaries and imperial identities: A comparative view

Gardner¹

2017

Journal of Social Archaeology

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The year 2016 will be marked as a year in which identity politics reached new levels of significance. Among numerous dramatic events, the UK referendum on membership of the European Union has brought many issues of interest to archaeologists to the fore. These range from entirely contemporary concerns, such as the future of research funding in Britain, to topics of more longitudinal significance, including the interactions between different identity groups in particular economic and political circumstances. In this paper, I wish to explore aspects of the distinctive position of Britain as an illustration of identity dynamics in the long term, focussing on the relationship between imperialism and identities and viewed through the lens of recent work in Border Studies. Brexit can be seen as the culmination of the collapse of the British empire, and transformation of British identity, in the post-Second World War era and the particular dynamics of this process invite comparison with Britain’s earlier position as one of the frontier provinces of the Roman empire, especially in the 4th and 5th centuries AD. This comparison reveals two paradoxical dimensions of imperial identities, the first being that so-called ‘peripheries’ can be more important than ‘cores’ in the creation of imperial identities and the second that such identities can be simultaneously ideologically powerful yet practically fragile in the circumstances which follow imperial collapse. Such insights are important because, at a time of apparently resurgent nationalism in many countries, archaeologists need to work harder than ever to understand identity dynamics with the benefit of time depth.

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Section: Frontiers Boundaries and Imperial Identities – In Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Brexit, boundaries and imperial identities: A comparative view

Gardner¹

2017

Journal of Social Archaeology

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“…That is, even if most people were late British, and even if it was difficult to identify the homelands of different groups of migrants from the things that they owned, it could still be argued that obdurate Anglo--Saxon resistance to any form of assimilation with a more adaptable late Romano British population led to eventual Germanic dominance as the migrants stubbornly refused to use any artifacts or adopt any customs that were not Anglo--Saxon. That assertion is increasingly weakened by the revelation of Roman influences not only on Anglo--Saxon material culture, but also on Germanic culture more widely (see Brather 2005). An example can be found in a small group of atypical early Anglo--Saxon textiles called three--shed twills.…”

Section: The Third Premisementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Seventh century Anglo--Saxon designed landscapes, too, seem to have made deliberate references to their Roman antecessors: the earliest Christian kings of Kent and Deira were buried in the porticus of their principal minsters; and the monumental architecture of early Anglo--Saxon palaces may have been based on the forms and layouts of Roman villas (Gerrard 2013, p. 195;Yorke 2013, p. 243). Henig (2004, p. 11) has gone so far as to suggest that as late as the seventh and eighth centuries England "can still be regarded as culturally late Roman" (see also Brather 2005). If elite replacement occurred, it requires a more nuanced and detailed approach.…”

Section: Political Takeover By An Anglo--saxon Warrior Elitementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The first stage tends to be characterized by the movement of individuals --traders, missionaries or mercenaries. It is worth remembering in this context that by the fourth century such a large proportion of the Roman army was Germanic that between 10,000 and 40,000 such men may have served in Britain, some of whom may have been buried outside late Roman towns like Cambridge (Brather 2005;Gerrard 2013, p. 184;Pattison 2008Pattison , p. 2425Taylor 1983, p. 111). Some of these travellers return to their places of origin.…”

Section: The Impact Of Migration On Property Rights: Possible Scenariosmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Recognizing and Moving on from a Failed Paradigm: The Case of Agricultural Landscapes in Anglo-Saxon England c. AD 400–800

Oosthuizen

2015

J Archaeol Res

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Understanding how and why material culture changes is a central preoccupation for archaeologists. One of the most intractable examples of this problem can be found between 400 and 800 AD in the enigmatic transformation of sub Roman into Anglo-Saxon England. That example lies at the heart of this review, explored through the case of the agricultural economy. Although the ideas critically examined below relate specifically to early medieval England, they represent themes of universal interest: the role of migration in the transformation of material culture; politics and economy in a post-imperial world; the significance of "core" and "periphery" in evolving polities; ethnogenesis as a strategy in kingdom building; property rights as a lens for investigating cultural change; and the relationship between hierarchical political structures and collective forms of governance. The first part of the argument presented below proposes a structured response to paradigmatic stalemate by identifying and testing each underlying assumption, premise and interpretative framework. The recognition of any fallacies, false premises and flawed arguments might assist with an overall evaluation of the continuing utility of a discourse-whether it has life in it yet, or should be set aside. In either case, the recognition of its structure should enable arguments to be developed that do not lead into a disciplinary cul-de-sac, prevented by the orthodoxy from exploring new avenues for research. The second part of the review deliberately adopts a starting point outside the limits of the current discourse. Freed from the confines of the conventional consensus, it experiments with an alternative "bottom up" approach to change in early medieval England that contrasts with conventional "top down" arguments. It focuses in particular on how rights over agricultural property-especially collective rights-and the forms of governance implied by them may assist in illuminating the roles of tradition and transformation in effecting cultural change.

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“…This formulation of ethnic and social groupings might be seen as helped, as well as hindered, by the formulation and perpetuation of frontier zones from Late Antiquity to the later Middle Ages (e.g. Brather 2005). Adapting and reconfiguring Roman ideas and material traces, early medieval frontiers were complex and varied in scale and form, use and enduring significances.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Offa’s Dyke Collaboratory and the Offa’s Dyke Journal

Williams

Delaney

2019

OD Journal

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Opening the first volume of a new open-access peer-reviewed academic publication, we are pleased to introduce the Offa’s Dyke Journal. This venture stems from the activities of the Offa’s Dyke Collaboratory, a research network founded in April 2017 to foster and support new research on the monuments and landscapes of the Anglo-Welsh borderlands and comparative studies of borderlands and frontiers from prehistory to the present. The proceedings of a series of academic and public-facing events have informed the character and direction of the Journal. Moreover, its establishment coincides with the Cadw/Historic England/Offa’s Dyke Association-funded Offa’s Dyke Conservation Management Plan as well as other new community and research projects on linear earthworks. Funded by the University of Chester and the Offa’s Dyke Association, and published online by JAS Arqueologia and print-distributed by Archaeopress, the journal aims to provide a resource for scholars, students and the wider public regarding the archaeology, heritage and history of the Welsh Marches and its linear monuments. It also delivers a much-needed venue for interdisciplinary studies from other times and places.

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Acculturation and Ethnogenesis along the Frontier: Rome and the Ancient Germans in an Archaeological Perspective

Cited by 10 publications

References 0 publications

Brexit, boundaries and imperial identities: A comparative view

Brexit, boundaries and imperial identities: A comparative view

Recognizing and Moving on from a Failed Paradigm: The Case of Agricultural Landscapes in Anglo-Saxon England c. AD 400–800

The Offa’s Dyke Collaboratory and the Offa’s Dyke Journal

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