Some remarks on ethnicity in medieval archaeology

Abstract

Some remarks on ethnicity in medieval archaeology F  C  Recent critiques of the culture-historical approach to ethnicity have denounced the idea that archaeological cultures are 'actors' on the historical stage, playing the role that known individuals or groups have in documentary history. But the critique has gone as far as to claim that, because archaeologists supposedly have no access to the meaning of cultural traditions, medieval ethnicity cannot be studied by archeological means. Ethnicity should be banned from all discussions, if medieval archaeology is to make any progress in the future. The paper examines the theoretical malaise at the root of this scepticism verging on nihilism. The understanding of the archaeological record not as an imprint, but as a text allows for much learning about meaning in the past. Symbols, style and power are the key concepts that currently guide anthropological research on ethnicity as a 'social construction of primordiality'. As several archaeological examples show, medieval ethnicity was a form of social mobilization used in order to reach certain political goals. Ethnic identity was built upon some preexisting cultural identity, in a prototypic manner. Eine ethnische Einheit, ein Volk oder ein Stamm, mit dem man in Mitteleuropa ohne weiteres Kulturen oder kulturellen Gruppen identifizieren pflegt, ist aber kein gar so homogenes und gleichbleibendes Gebilde, wie man es in Anlehnung an der romantischen Volksbegriffs Herders annehmen zu können glaubt, sondern eine ungemein vielschichtige Gesellungsform, die nicht so sehr durch die Bande des Blutes, als vielmehr durch das Moment politischer Herrschaft zusammengehalten wird. 1

"Público" e "privado" nos textos jurídicos francos

“…De fato, é muito difícil identificar esses núcleos através dos elementos da cultura material. 24 Apesar das diferenças entre elas -por vezes expressas de maneira radical -essas duas "escolas" estão de acordo em considerar que os nomes, os mitos de origem 25 e as leis daquilo que designamos de "povos bárbaros" constituem discursos produzidos por elites militares e políticas que reivindicavam um poder exclusivo sobre certas partes da Res publica. Os cronistas da Idade Média e os historiadores do Antigo Regime tomaram esses "discursos" como a prova da existência de sólidas comunidades étnicas nos fundamentos dos reinos que levavam os nomes dessas comunidades.…”

Identidades y ajuares en las necrópolis altomedievales. Estudios isotópicos del cementerio de San Martín de Dulantzi, Álava (siglos VI-X)

“…Y aunque la réplica a las posiciones de los autores negacionistas ha sido muy contundente e incluso visceral (p. ej. Ward Perkins 2005;Valenti 2009), son muchos los especialistas que defi enden en la actualidad la necesidad de analizar el signifi cado de la etnicidad altomedieval en el marco de los procesos de construcción de las identidades sociales y las estructuras políticas postimperiales (Curta 2007). Los estudios más detallados y exhaustivos, como los realizados por S. Hackenbeck en Baviera, han mostrado la multiplicidad de signifi cados contextuales que han tenido los rituales y los objetos hallados en las tumbas, cuestionando defi nitivamente la lectura étnica clásica (Hackenbeck 2007(Hackenbeck : 25-26, 2011.…”

Etnicidad en los cementerios altomedievales. El caso de los enterramientos "visigodos"

“…In consequence, what we are analysing are the members of a local elite that takes the "gothic element" (be themselves descendants or not of gothic individuals) as "key to the political power" (CURTA, 2007;POHL, 1998a: p. 2). These keys are justifying the social relations of production developed within the communities, based in a better situation in the production and distribution of resources and the subsequent status.…”

“…These studies have generated intense debates, between which is inevitable to mention the one of ethnogenesis since the publication of the works of Wenskus and Wolfram and their continuity just to the present (CURTA, 2007;GILLET, 2002;POHL and REIMITZ, 1998). A debate that is, at this moment, in pause; a pause that has provoked a radicalization of the opinions of their participants, in spite the wish for consensus expressed at the end of 90´s (POHL, 1998a: p. 7).…”