Archaeology of the Slavic Migrations

Michel Kazanski (1, 2)

1 CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
2 OM - ORIENT ET MÉDITERRANÉE : Textes, Archéologie, Histoire

Most archaeologists associate the Roman-period Proto-Slavs with the Kiev culture in the middle and upper Dnieper basin, kindred to it sites of the type Zaozer´e in the upper Dnieper and the upper Dvina basins, and finally the groups of sites of the type Cherepyn-Teremtsy in the upper Dniester basin and of the type Ostrov in the Pripyat basin. The fate of the early Slavs was much influenced by the events on the early stage of the Great Migration, when the Huns attacked the Goths in 375 CE. In the Dnieper area, from the mid-5th century CE on, the lands of the Goths were gradually taken by the populations of early Slavic cultures, who moved there from the upper Dnieper region. For the age of Slavic migrations from the 5th to the 7th centuries CE, most archaeologists have identified the Slavs with the Prague culture, some of the sites of the Ipoteşti-Cîndeşti, the Penkovka culture, the Kolochin culture, and far to the north the Long Barrows culture, at least partially relatable to some Slavic or Balto-Slavic population. There are two specific aspects of the archaeology of Slavic migrations: the movement of the populations of the Slavic cultural model and the diffusion of this model amid non-Slavic population. Several stages and directions are associated with the Slavic migrations of the 5th-8th centuries CE:-migration into the forest-steppe zone of Eastern Europe (5th c. CE);-migrations in the lower Danube area (late 5th-early 6th cc. CE);-migration south of the Danube and into the Balkans (6th-7th cc. CE);-migration in the middle and upper Danube areas (mid-6th-7th cc. CE);-migration into the Vistula, Oder, and Elbe basins (6th-7th cc. CE); and-migration in the forest area of Eastern Europe (7th-9th cc. CE). From an archaeological point of view, these migrations are manifested in the spread of Slavic cultural traits (related to handcrafted ceramics, types of buildings, cremation tombs, and female costume), and, for the southern part of the area, they are confirmed by the testimony of written sources. In archaeological research on Slavic antiquities, the following schema comprising three chronological stages has been increasingly accepted (see e.g., Stanciu 2015: 165):-Proto-Slavs, corresponding to the Wends (Venedi, Venethi, Veneti, Ouenedai) of ancient sources (Roman period, 1st-4th cc. CE);-Early Slavs, i.e., the Antes (Antae, Antai, Anti) and the Sclaveni (Sklavenoi, Sklavinoi) of the writers from the Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages (mid-5th to the middle or the second half of the 7th c. CE);

Domaines: Sciences de l'Homme et Société; Archéologie et Préhistoire

Michel Kazanski. Archaeology of the Slavic Migrations. Encyclopedia of Slavic Languages and Linguistics Online, 2020. ⟨hal-02902087⟩