Wouldn't it be easier just to answer the question? Did the Bastarnae live in the area east of the Carpathians, ie Moldova, in the period 3rd cent BCE - 3rd cent. CE, yes or no?
****GK: Wouldn't it be easier to remember that I had already answered that question countless times in previous posts?***
What are all those inhumation graves doing in the area where the Bastarnae lived, if the Bastarnae supposedly knew only cremation?
****GK: Because they were Geto-Dacian in the 4th to 1rst cs. BCE, "Free Dacian" in the 2nd c. CE, or Gotho-Dacian in the 3rd c. CE, depending on the sources Niculita cites. Because the Bastarnians invaded a Getic area and coexisted with them for centuries, but did not adopt any form of inhumation for their own culture there ("Poeneshti-Lukashovka") as has been demonstrated in all archaeological literature published so far afaik.*****
The fact that Nicoliţa doesn't mention the Bastarnae can hardly change the fact that this is where they lived?
****GK: They lived intermixed with the Getae, but in their own communities, and did adopt a number of Getic cultural markers, esp, in ceramics. Not, howevewr in their burial rite.*****
Plutarch: Cicero
'When he [ie.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonius_Hybrida ]
tried the same tactics on the allies in Moesia [61 BCE], he was defeated near the city of the Istrians
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histria_(ancient_city)
by the Bastarnian Scythians who came to their aid; and thereupon he ran away.'
****GK: Same episode as in the Dio Cassius ref. I gave. "Scythians" as per Pliny 4.81 "north of the Danube".*****
Note that also Hachmann seemed to waver in his assignment of traces of the Ariovistus invasion to Eastern Germanic provenance.
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/55551****GK: If Przeworsk part of this (as it is) there should be no problem in making the assignation.*****
Who are those good archaeologists (and historians) you refer to who give us reliable information about the Poeneşti-Lukaševka culture of the Bastarnian communities?
*****GK: Why should I repeat myself? Check my previous posts and if you need more specific references ask for them.*****
P.S. I am going to start another thread on the Bastarnae, checking out an alternate theory of their identity and history. Or at least of some of them. Comments and criticisms welcome. (GK)
Torsten