The discovery of solidus coins on the islands of Öland and Gotland, propose a contactbetween Scandinavia and the Roman Empire during the Migration Period (AD 400-550), buthow did the Scandinavians get access to these coins? In this essay, I will study thestampidentity and coin embossing from 572 coins found on Öland and Gotland. The aim is tounderstand where the coins were minted and during which periods there was a big influx ofsolidus coins to Scandinavia. But also, to understand what European regions the people ofÖland and Gotland were in contact with. This essay will also map certain events that are vitalfor understanding why the solidus coins are found in Scandinavia.

This thesis is based on the observation that in the Lake Mälaren region, places with the name Stenby ("stone village") tend to be located next to hillforts. I have researched the occurrence of the place name Stenby with medieval evidence for the name in eastern central Sweden and found sixteen that are located in the Mälaren Valley region. Of these, twelve had a hillfort within one kilometer and eleven were assessed as being from the Migration Period. There is one hilltop settlement in the material: Broborg in Uppland. Of the eleven Migration Period hillforts, ten were located close to Lake Mälaren or had a waterway to Lake Mälaren. Eight of the twelve Stenby places with a hillfort were located in areas that could constitute aristocratic central areas with many sacral placenames referring to Norse Gods and names containing -tuna and -lunda. They are in open landscapes with wide views. Two Stenby hillfort complexes were adjacent to a (nautical) fairway. These findings suggest a central organization within the region.  The only exception from the Migration Period hillfort pattern is in Riala Parish, which has an older bank enclosure. Riala is not situated in an Iron Age central district and lacks a water connection with Lake Mälaren. Of the four Stenby without a nearby hillfort, two lacked close Iron-Age burial grounds and are not certain to be Migration Period settlements. One may be associated with a smaller mountain called Onsberget ("Oden's mountain").

The island Öland is rich in prehistoric archaeological finds. The ringforts at Ölandwere constructed during the Roman Iron Age and the Migration Period. Contact withthe Roman Empire is known from finds of gold and of objects of Roman character.This essay compares style of architecture and structure of the ringforts withconstructions of some buildings and places in contemporary European cultures. Theresults indicate that the society in which the ringforts in Öland were built, were incontact with Celtic and Roman societies during the Roman Iron Age and theMigration Period.

No description available.

Sandby borg, an Iron Age ringfort on Öland, Sweden has been and is still at the center of attention in media and archaeological research. The massacre uncovered at the site during recent years opens many doors for analyses on the Migration Period (c. 400-550 AD) Iron Age skeletal remains. Eighteen teeth (molars) from 12 individuals and three rodent teeth were chosen for strontium (87Sr/86Sr) analyses. This was done to establish whether these individuals were locals or non-locals to Öland. The analyses displayed a, for the most part, local 87Sr/86Sr ratio. Two non-locals were identified, as well as a pattern of higher 87Sr/86Sr peaks on numerous of the individuals during a certain age span, which could indicate a local weaning process with a special food. / Sandby borg

This essay is focused on Öland during the Iron Age, with focus specifically on the Roman Iron Age and the Migration period. The study takes its starting point in the large number of fortifications that was active across Öland at the time. The essays main area of investigation will be the central and southern parts of Öland as the fortifications, together with other parts of the Iron Age society around them such as graves and settlement, will be presented. The landscape in which the fortifications and their surroundings are placed will also be described. With the Migration Period being a keyword for almost all the fortifications on Öland, the subject will also be to describe if any sort of change can be seen in the settlement patterns during this unstable and troubled time. This will all be presented trough sources describing work of the archaeological investigations that has been done in those places.

This thesis is concerned with the earliest picture stones on Gotland. The study will focus on the interpretation of the motives and symbols that are shown on the stones. This will partly be done by compounding the various motives into one synchronic statement and also partly by studying the manifests of the contemporary roman armed forces on the continent. Instead of earlier interpretations, suggesting that the expressions of the picture stones basically are about religion, myths, sagas and conceptions about the death, my idea is that the expressions shows coherence with roman warfare. My aim in this thesis is to propose that the motives on the picture stones of the Migration Period on Gotland deals with the organisation of power and warfare in this time, both on and outside the island.

This thesis seeks to gain an understanding the role of the warrior in the Gotlandic society during the Roman iron age and the Migration Period, and to gain further knowledge of the development and evolution of the Gotlandic weapon grave, in terms of grave goods, burial practises, and expressions of military hierarchy. Through the methodology of correspondence analysis, a relatively clear development of the weapon grave can be traced: from a retinue-based system of military organisation in the Early Roman Iron Age, to a less defied hierarchy among the graves during the Late Roman Iron Age and Migration Period. This is manifested by a decreasing use of high-status objects, more homogenous grave inventories, and smaller differences in size and form of burial structures. This development corelates with earlier studies regarding social changes on Gotland, where the Gotlandic society is identified as more egalitarian than other Early Iron Age societies in Scandinavia. / Denna Uppsats ämnar bilda en förståelse kring krigarens roll i det gotländska samhället under romersk järnålder och folkvandringstid, samt att öka kunskapen kring de gotländska vapengravarnas utveckling genom att undersöka uppsättningar av gravgåvor, gravpraktiker och uttryck för militär hierarki. Genom en korrespondens-analytisk metodik har en relativt tydlig utveckling av vapengravarna kunnat identifieras. Från ett system som bygger på militära följen under äldre romersk järnålder, till en mindre tydligt definierad hierarki bland gravarna under yngre romersk järnålder och folkvandringstid. Utvecklingen manifesterar sig via en minskning i användningen av statusmarkerande föremål, ett mer homogent gravinventarium, samt mer otydliga skillnader i storlek och utformning av gravkonstruktionerna. Detta korrelerar med tidigare forskning rörande den gotländska samhällsorganisationen, där det gotländska samhället identifieras som mer egalitärt än andra äldre järnålderssamhällen i Skandinavien.

<p>Many questions are still left unanswered regarding the period c. 450-700 AD, when hordes of Anglo-Saxon migrants landed on the British Isles and by doing so made the starting point in the foundation of England. Who were these Germanic tribes? The theories of how the migration proceeded are today many. The two major theories today concerns whether it was a question of a mass migration or a gradual migration proceeded by smaller groups of military elite. Another interesting point, well worth discussing, is the concept of cultural identity, and especially of these Anglo-Saxon migrants. How do you strengthen your identity as a newcomer in foreign country? Is this reflected in the material culture, in the way you build your houses or how you choose to bury your dead? The purpose of this essay is to shed more light on the migrants that were to become the English.</p>

Luboš Rypka Římsko-provinciální keramika doby římské a období stěhování národů v Čechách (The Pottery from the Roman Provinces in Bohemia during the Roman and Migration Period). Unpublished master thesis. ÚPRAV FFUK Praha (Institute of Prehistory and Early History, Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague). Praha/Prague 2012. Keywords: Roman-provincial pottery, archaeological finds, Roman imports, Roman Period, Migration Period, Bohemia Abstract In his master thesis, author focuses on the finds of Roman-provincial pottery in Bohemia during the Roman and Migration Period from 68 sites in 58 cadastral units. A number of 208 pottery sherds from the settlements of Roman and Migration Period as well as 16 preserved whole or only slightly damaged vessels from the graves of Migration Period, are analyzed. Together, there must had been at least 173 up to 194 ceramic vessels of Roman-provincial origin imported into region of Bohemia. The main stress is putted on an elaborate catalogue of finds. In the analytical part, the 11, respectively 12 main categories of Roman-provincial pottery featured in Bohemia are set aside, the essential finds are briefly discussed and the possible directions of supply of (not only) ceramic import from the Roman Provinces into Bohemia are outlined.