| Arne Focke wrote: |
| You have to remember that the main part of Illerup, as well as the other bog sacrifices, is not from the migration period, but from the roman iron age. The germanic tribes of that time seldom wore armour in battle. Sometimes roman armour from a slain enemy was used (it may also have been traded). There are helmet pieces and pieces of chainmail from the sacrifice of Thorsberg. More chainmail was found in Vimose.
Earlier roman authors also describe that fighting habit. With the start of the migration period these bog sacrifices come to an end. |
Can anybody provide any insight into how the progression of deposits in the Illerup find illustrates the evolution of weapons, armor, and possibly tactics of the armies fighting in the region? Who was fighting who, and why? Just plunder, or was this also "politics?" As Sean mentioned, Ilkjær does have some reports in english, so we can read some of it. http://www.illerup.dk/documents/illerup_75.pdf. What about the economic development related to the manufacture and trade of these items? Again, Ilkjær suggests that similarities of items to those from many geographic regions suggests significant trade/travel. But was it contermporary? Were the people of this rigion, in this time, trading with Syria? Arne, you mention that armor is missing because the germanic tribes didn't wear it, as a rule, until the migration era. I assume that the lack of armor means that either they didn't defeat an invasion of people who did wear it (at least not here, or they only sacrificed the arms/armor of their own fallen?). According to Ilkjær (http://www.illerup.dk/documents/illerup_84.pdf) these were from the defeated armies, so that suggests to me that these battles didn't include Romans, at least (although Roman coins were found). It also suggests to me, as Elling already pointed out, that any armor was taken and not included in the bog sacrifice. I think it unlikely that NO invaders wore armor, given the size of the find and the diversity of artifacts within it (which suggests significant trade with people who did have armor). That leads me to think that either the rare piece of armor was either kept, or that it completely deteriorated. Or perhaps I'm wrong, and there is some other reason that actually prevented the invaders from wearing armor.
Also, Ilkjær concludes that these invaders were from Norway and Sweden. Do those of you who can read his untranslated work concur? It seems likely, but still a little tenuous. On the other hand, I have only had a chance to read a few short papers in english.
It seems to me that we haven't even scratched the surface of this find, yet! Although the translation offers are both generous and helpful, I don't really know enough about the language to even ask what to translate, or even to know for certain what the right questions would be.
Attachment: 18.1 KB
