Merovingians in the 5th/6th century

[Caballo]

Thank you- as I can't read Russian, are these all Merovingian? Including the silver eagle head buckle which I thought (perhaps wrongly) was more Visigothic?
http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/imgs_En/0..._9_big.jpg

[AlexV]

No, more bosphoran culture, icluding later connections in the west with some goths/gepids at the Vth century

[Potator]

Sorry, but I do not understand the Merovingian era artifacts. Photo link defined as Gepides buckle found in the Crimea. The second half of the 5th century.
Brochure on my link was published for the exhibition. It shows the different artifacts 5-7 centuries.
Dates are Roman numerals around the photo.
"Франки" - francs, "Боспор" - bosphoran, "Готы" - gothic, "Болгары" - bulgarians, "Германские" - germanian, "Византийские" - byzanthian, "Гепиды" - gepides, "Лангобарды" - langobardians, "Гунн" - hunnes, "Бавары" - bavarians, "Аламанны" - alemanians.
As so :lol:

[Flavivs Aetivs]

That Buckle is from the Crimean Goths. There were two independent groups outside Hunnic influence that lasted until the 6th or 7th centuries.

[XorX]

2. The Brooches - again Cloisonne, indicating this man is 5th century.

However, I agree that osprey is not the best source (especially considering the belts they show, and in the 6th century image the D-shaped lamellar).
.

the brooches are 6th century women`s brooches
the D-shaped lamellar is absolutely accurate. It`s the piece from the Niederstotzingen 12 burial dating to the late 6th century

[Flavivs Aetivs]

Yes I know that but I highly doubt it would have been found in France. I'm also aware that they are women's brooches. Thanks for the info though.

[XorX]

Yes I know that but I highly doubt it would have been found in France.

What do you mean? The armour?
It was found in south-western germany. Parts of armour of the same type were found in Italy and many places in Germany, as far as I know.

[Flavivs Aetivs]

Ah. Well I stand corrected. I was not aware that 6th century West Europe (other than areas like Italy) saw widespread use of Lamellar.

[XorX]

Well, widespread may not be the right word, but it was normal enough as that somebody produced bronze-gilded fibulae depicting a riding warrior wearing one (one example dating to the early 7th century was found in Xanten, not far away from the lamellae finds of Krefeld-Gellep)

[Caballo]

An courtesy of Matt Bunker, a 6th century mail coat with integral coif found in southern Germany not far from the Merovingian domain...



The original is here
An integral coif! The front is missing so it could have been open or with a section of mail covering the face.

[AMELIANVS]

7-hmm-Angon type spear!Any info/Idea which tribe he might by part of?

[Decebalus]

He is Alamannic, mid 6th Century.
The sax does not belong to this grave - it is a later type and was placed in the grave under the presumption it would fit...
Here is a picture of the weapons

[attachment=9167]Gammertingen_Waffen.jpg[/attachment]

See also here for more pictures and a reconstruction of this warrior (scroll down).

[AlexV]

It seems to be a middle VIth century grave ?

There is a VIth type spangenhelm in the grave, and the ango seems to be the 520-70 modeltyp..





[attachment=9171]P1180211.jpg[/attachment]


Concerning the lamellar armor, i always thought it was from the early VIIth century, hav any info for dating it to the VI th ?

[Flavivs Aetivs]

Depends on the kind of Lamellar. U-shaped lamellar (and of course rectangular plate lamellar) had been around since the Scythians of the 5th century BC, but wasn't widespread in Europe until the Sarmatians, who brought the technology down into Dacia and later with them when hired by Romans as Auxilia and later Foederati.

In the 4th and 5th century AD, you begin to see it being used in the Roman army, thanks to the large numbers of Alan and the Hunnic cavalry in service.

In the 6th century, the Avars and Langobards introduce D-shaped lamellar, a new kind which evidently must have been an improvement in some way over U-shaped lamellar. However, for some reason the Romans chose not to adopt D-shaped lamellar it seems, and the Byzantine Klivanion was still made with U-shaped pieces.

Frankly, that's all I know about Lamellar. I'm sure Alanus could elaborate, he's knowledgeable on steppe people use of lamellae.

[AlexV]

Sorry for unprecision, i was spoken about the typ of lamellar found in Krefeld-gellep, so a "D-shaped" i think?