09-11-2012, 03:19 PM
Origin of Goths is debatable, as material culture their established and well know culture, Cerniachov-Santana de Mures, is in majority of local origin, predominantly Dacian with provincial Roman, Sarmatian and German addings.
Most of ancient authors reffered to Goths as Getae (and Scythians sometime) and never as Germanic, this is a more modern interpretation, and more and more debatable.
Look for example at what contemporaries considered about Radagaisus army
http://books.google.ro/books?id=NM88AAAA...i.&f=false
This is from emperor Honorius Arch i think, related with same battles against Radagaisus and his defeat by Stilicho:
<<Quod Getarum nationem in omne aevum docuere extingui>>
There isnt any significant evidence that they migrated as a group from Scandinavia or even Baltic shores, and maintained their homogenity and history over milleniums.
More then that, there is more and more archeological evidences that in Iron Age era Dacians spread up to Jutlanda peninsula and all over today Poland, up to the Baltic.
http://uw.academia.edu/MarcinRudnicki/Pa...ral_Poland
They mention there several items, artefacts and poterry discovered, and more interesting, some probable sanctuaries of Thraco-Dacian origin, found even in Jutlanda.
This archeological discoveries are backed by writings (and maps) of Agrippa, Ptolemy and Jordanes
So i think more then probably Goths was a mix of Getae/Dacians with Germanic and Sarmatian elements added. This group absorbed more warlike Dacian elites and even common people who departed from former Decebalus kingdom after Trajan wars and raised to proeminence in time, coming in waves after other Dacian entities as so called "free Dacians", Costobocii and Carpii comes along, after the fall of Dacian kingdom of Decebalus.
After they entered in Roman empire they absorbed as well Roman people and elements (maybe even some Huns before, but Huns themselves was a mixed group of people with just a core of "real Huns").
Most of ancient authors reffered to Goths as Getae (and Scythians sometime) and never as Germanic, this is a more modern interpretation, and more and more debatable.
Look for example at what contemporaries considered about Radagaisus army
http://books.google.ro/books?id=NM88AAAA...i.&f=false
This is from emperor Honorius Arch i think, related with same battles against Radagaisus and his defeat by Stilicho:
<<Quod Getarum nationem in omne aevum docuere extingui>>
There isnt any significant evidence that they migrated as a group from Scandinavia or even Baltic shores, and maintained their homogenity and history over milleniums.
More then that, there is more and more archeological evidences that in Iron Age era Dacians spread up to Jutlanda peninsula and all over today Poland, up to the Baltic.
http://uw.academia.edu/MarcinRudnicki/Pa...ral_Poland
They mention there several items, artefacts and poterry discovered, and more interesting, some probable sanctuaries of Thraco-Dacian origin, found even in Jutlanda.
This archeological discoveries are backed by writings (and maps) of Agrippa, Ptolemy and Jordanes
So i think more then probably Goths was a mix of Getae/Dacians with Germanic and Sarmatian elements added. This group absorbed more warlike Dacian elites and even common people who departed from former Decebalus kingdom after Trajan wars and raised to proeminence in time, coming in waves after other Dacian entities as so called "free Dacians", Costobocii and Carpii comes along, after the fall of Dacian kingdom of Decebalus.
After they entered in Roman empire they absorbed as well Roman people and elements (maybe even some Huns before, but Huns themselves was a mixed group of people with just a core of "real Huns").
Razvan A.
