From: tgpedersen
Message: 64713
Date: 2009-08-12
>That timeline doesn't allow for
> Here are the main conclusions in S. Yatsenko's article about Sarmatian gakks on Germanic spearheads.
>
> He notes that so far 12 such spearheads (with 23 distinct
> markers/gakks) have been found: 7 in Poland, 2 in Germany, 2 in
> Ukraine, 1 in Norway. The Polish and Ukrainian finds are all from
> the Przeworsk culture area. All spearheads were made and inscribed
> in the period ca.150-250 CE.
>
> "How did it come about that the possessive markers of Sarmatian
> aristocracy were utilized by their northwestern Germanic
> neighbours? It is after all well known that the utilization of
> someone else's identity markers without authorization by the owner
> inevitably led to serious conflict, including lengthy wars. We find
> the answer in the ethnology of the peoples of the northern Caucasus
> area, where as we managed to explain [gives reference to his 2001
> article "Tamga-markers of Iranian-speaking nomads in antiquity and
> the early middle ages"] ancient Sarmat traditions for the
> utilization of such markers have been preserved [2001, pp. 12-14].
> On the basis of customs preserved there until not very long ago the
> tamga/gakk of a prestigious clan could be used by members of
> another people who (1) gave an oath of alliance, (2) entered into a
> marriage contract with representatives of the clan, or (3) found
> themselves in a position of personal dependence on the
> gakk=owning aristocrat [2001, p. 22]/.../
> We know that up to the beginning of the 2nd c. CE the Sarmats made
> deep attacks towards the northwest into the forest zone with
> evident perturbations of the forest tribes [ Tacitus, Germania, c.
> 46] But at the time when our markers were inscribed... in Poland
> the clans which were the original owners of the markers in Sarmatia
> proper had for the most part disappeared under the pressure of new
> arrivals from the East -- carriers of the early variant of the Late
> Sarmatian culture. Also, the markers were inscribed on objects
> which, at that time, were not utilized by Sarmats for the recording
> of gakks, namely, on Germanic gala spearheads. This situation is
> easily explained. The Germanics could "by right" utilize the
> markers of friendly Sarmatian aristocratic clans even if the latter
> had been physically annihilated in the course of the ceaseless
> violent wars so characteristic of nomads. In the North Caucasus a
> tradition still existed not so long ago: after the disappearance of
> a famous and warlike clan, its marker was adopted by neighbours as
> an emblem (even if they were not related) in order to obtain
> success and a portion of the divine blessing [Iranic "farn"] of
> that clan/.../
> Having acquired the right to utilize clan markers of Sarmatian
> aristocrats, the Germanics also, plausibly, adopted the nomad
> tradition of inscribing a series of tamgas on an object by
> participants to an important event at the time of its occurrence,
> At the same time, the Germanic accumulation of such gakks were
> accompanied not only by runic inscriptions (Sarmatian accumulations
> were frequently accompanied by texts in Greek), but also by lunar
> and solar signs (while among the Sarmato-Alans prevailed
> representations of various animals).
> On the basis of the Przeworsk culture spearheads we may list four
> groups of Sarmatian gakks belonging to four groups of related clans
> of Sarmat-Alans who contacted most closely with the Germanics. The
> largest group is represented by marker n. 1 [GK: this is what looks
> like a simple bident, very similar to the much later sign used by
> Svyatoslav of Kyiv], and those markers which include it as one of
> their elements {GK: BTW earlier Yatsenko had argued that this
> marker n.1 originated in Western Kazakhstan, on the peninsula of
> Mangishlak (Caspian east) ca. 200 BCE, and was in use there until
> at least 200 CE}. Markers of this type are depicted on 5 spearheads
> (including the one most recently /2003/ discovered in West
> Ukraine)/.../ A distinct place is occupied by the undecorated
> spearheads with the gakk of the powerful king of the Aorsi, Farzoi,
> which have been found in Valle [Norway] and Bodzhanovo [Lower
> Vistula]. They attest to the extensive external relations of his
> large dominion and, plausibly, indicate his search for military
> alliances at the time of his conflict with Rome."
>
> NB: Yatsenko follows Baran in attributing the spearheads to the
> Goths. I don't think this is the case, since none were found in the
> Wielbark area. At best they could be spearheads of those Vandals
> who collaborated in the Gothic invasion of Ukraine in the 230's.
> But the timeline also allows them to be associated with the Vandal
> assault on the Costoboci in Galicia in 172 CE.
>