just thought I'd share. This is from a book called Ancient Europe: Encyclopedia of the Barbarian World. I had it on .pdf for a long time and kinda forgot about it. Its a great read for getting an overview on 8000 B.C. to 1000 A.D.
IRON AGE POLAND
PRE-ROMAN IRON AGE
In the south, “Pomeranians” met Celtic newcomers, who had settled in Silesia in the fourth century
B.C. About a hundred years later the next wave of the La Tène culture bearers settled in Little Poland. Farther north a small Celtic colony existed in Kujavia. This dispersed northeastern avant-garde of the great European civilization introduced new technological and cultural achievements—very fine wheelturned pottery, a double-chambered oven for firing pots, production of glass, fine smith techniques, large-scale iron smelting, new decoration motifs, coinage, new arms (long swords and helmets), and the organization of regional cult centers (e.g., the S´le˛z˙ a Mountain in Silesia, known for numerous stone sculptures). Important progress in agriculture was made possible by improved plowing tools, manuring of fields, and rotational querns. These “Celtic” settlements were rather small, and their inhabitants lived in relative isolation from their autochthonous neighbors, who seemed to ignore the new technological offerings. Typical flat cemeteries with skeleton burials oriented north to south have been found to contain rich goods.
The Pre-Roman Age (earlier called “La Tène period,” lasting from 400 B.C. to the turn of the millennium) saw important culture changes elsewhere in Polish lands. During the third century B.C. the last enclaves of the Lusatian culture and the mainstream Pomeranian culture disappeared, even though its regional survivors lasted until the midsecond century B.C. Those changes were caused by new cultural influences in the west. Along the Oder River, as early as the early third century B.C., Pomeranian societies were replaced by two groups of the Proto-Germanic Jastorf culture, expanding from its cradle in Jutland and northern Germany. It probably was this new influence that prompted further development, resulting in the formation of two new cultures.
Of these two, the Przeworsk culture was the more successful in its territorial expansion and the more durable (lasting more than six centuries). It originated somewhere in central Poland in the second half of the third century B.C. During its early phases it developed under the strong influence of Celtic traditions. In Tyniec, near Kraków, there lived a mixed Celto-Przeworsk society that introduced oats into Polish lands. During this early period cemeteries were flat, with simple pit graves that usually lacked urns. Even stronger was the Jastorfian impact in the north, where the Oksywie culture formed in the lower Vistula region. It is known only from its cemeteries, where women and men were buried according to distinctively different rites. Cremated female bones were put in simple pits, while the males were buried in urns. Stone covers or standing stelae are characteristic of these graves. This culture later gave birth to the Wielbark culture, identified with the Goths. Both Przeworsk and Oksywie cultures sometimes are listed under the common name “Pit Grave culture.”
A few questions about rebels factions in Germania and the Lougiones/Lugians
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Zarrr
