201Arheološki vestnik 74, 2023, 201–240; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3986/AV.74.06; CC BY-SA Izvleček Na Japnišču v Mirnu so arheologi med letoma 2009 in 2013 raziskali del grobišča s konca 5. in iz zgodnjega 6. stoletja. Gre za majhno grobišče, na katerem je raziskanih devet grobov in leži ob nekdaj pomembni prometni komunikaciji med Akvilejo in Emono. Posamezne človeške kosti v uničenih plasteh in zasutjih sicer nakazujejo, da je bilo pokopov prvotno več. Posebnost grobišča so določeni vzhodnogermanski elementi, ki se odražajo v noši in namensko preoblikovanih loba- njah. Po našem mnenju ti elementi nakazujejo prisotnost Germanov, glede na zgodovinske vire najbolj verjetno Vzhodnih Gotov. Pri interpretaciji mirenskega grobišča izhajamo iz natančne tipo kronološke analize predmetov, raziskali smo pojav predmetov iz spodnjega Podonavja na slovenskih najdiščih ob koncu 4. in v začetku 5. st. ter vzhodnogermanskih elementov s konca 5. in prvih desetletij 6. st. Mirensko grobišče smo primerjali s podobnimi grobišči v Italiji in Avstriji. Ključne besede: Slovenija; Miren; pozna antika; Germani; Vzhodni Goti; vzhodnogotsko kraljestvo; grobišče; višinske naselbine Abstract The archaeological investigations conducted between 2009 and 2013 at Japnišče, a site in Miren, unearthed part of a cemetery from the late 5th and early 6th century. It is a small cemetery located at a formerly major road that connected Aquileia and Emona. Nine burials have thus far been investigated, though the scattered finds of human bones in the mixed layers and fills of pits suggest the burial ground was originally larger. A particular feature of the cemetery is the East Germanic elements visible in the costume and the artificially deformed skulls. We argue that these elements indicate the presence of a Germanic population, with historical sources pointing to the Ostrogoths as the most likely people. The interpretation of the Miren cemetery relies on a meticulous typo-chronological analysis of the recovered grave goods, as well as a study of objects from the late 4th and early 5th centuries that originated from the Lower Danube Basin, and the study of East Germanic elements from the late 5th and the initial decades of the 6th century unearthed at sites in Slovenia. Finally, the site is compared with similar cemeteries in Italy and Austria. Keywords: Slovenia; Miren; Late Antiquity; Germani; Ostrogoths; Ostrogothic Kingdom; cemetery; hilltop settlements Ostrogoths in Slovenia? Case study of a Late Antique cemetery in Miren, western Slovenia Vzhodni Goti v Sloveniji? Raziskave grobišča iz obdobja pozne antike v Mirnu, zahodna Slovenija Vesna TRATNIK, Špela KARO 202 Vesna TRATNIK, Špela KARO Miren is a settlement at the River Vipava, at the western state border of Slovenia (Fig. 1). In its southern part, in the hamlet of Japnišče, the remains of a Late Antique cemetery came to light on the left bank of the river. The plain surroun- ding Japnišče, formed of Late Pleistocene river deposits, is delimited in the south by the Kras plateau (Fig. 2). The earliest traces of habitation in the area date back to prehistory. The elevation now holding Miren Castle presumably hosted a prehistoric hillfort with habitation continuing into the Roman period.1 The Roman road from Aquileia to Emona led past Miren,2 next to which the remains of a Roman-period settlement were unearthed.3 At the end of the 19th century, Simon Rutar reported that brick tombs came to light in Japnišče.4 The 1 Marchesetti 1903, 53, Pl. 5, Fig. 5; Pergar 2007. 2 Rutar 1899, 28; Cuntz 1902, 154; Puschi 1903; Bosio 1991, 206–207; Sticotti 1951, No. 380. 3 Žbona Trkman 1981; Žbona Trkman 1985; Bratina 2001; Bratina 2009; Fabec, Tratnik 2010. 4 Rutar 1899, 28. first inhumation burials were unearthed in 2009. The archaeological work in 2009 comprised the documentation and partial excavation of two in- humations, as well as a rough assessment of the extent of the cemetery. In the north, excavations revealed pits and ditches filled with pieces of Roman brick, pottery sherds, stones, plaster and mortar; these have been interpreted as the remains of different buildings, features and use of space in the Roman or Late Antique periods. The east–west orientation of the skeletons and the finds in the fills of the grave pits indicated a Late Roman or early medieval date of the two inhumation burials.5 Investigations in 2011 examined a 13 × 20 m large area of the cemetery (Fig. 3) with seven burials.6 These seven included one that had been partially excavated two years prior (Grave 1/2009).7 The results of the investigations in 2009 and 2011 were published together with the anthropological and 5 Fabec 2018. 6 More details in Tratnik 2018b. 7 Grave 2/2009 was documented, protected and backfilled in 2009, and not re-excavated in 2011 (Fabec 2018, 11–14). Fig. 1: Miren – Japnišče. Location of the site between the Roman cities of Emona and Aquileia. (base map: ©ARSO) Sl. 1: Miren – Japnišče. Lokacija najdišča in rimskih mest Emona in Akvileja. (podlaga: ©ARSO) 203Ostrogoths in Slovenia? Case study of a Late Antique cemetery in Miren, western Slovenia Fig. 2: View of Japnišče (Miren) from the south with marked location of the cemetery. (after Tratnik 2018a, Fig. 2) Sl. 2: Pogled na Japnišče (Miren) z juga; označena je lega grobišča. (po Tratnik 2018a, sl. 2) archaeozoological analyses, as well as the analysis of select metal objects in the monograph entitled Miren – grobišče iz obdobja preseljevanja ljudstev.8 In 2013, archaeologists documented another child burial and several bones of an adult individual to the north of the area investigated in 2011.9 There is a gap between the burials unearthed in 2009–2011 and those found in 2013, most likely due to the extent of investigations limited to areas of construction work on partially already built-up plots. Investigations were again conducted in 2016 and 2017, on a plot located some 30 m north of the previously unearthed part of the cemetery. Pieces of Roman brick and human bones were found in twelve pits. Several pits contained the bones of at least two individuals. None of the pits held complete skeletons, which suggested the graves were either heavily damaged or robbed, while the absence of grave goods hinders the dating. The burials could be either Roman or later and form part of the previously investigated cemetery from the 5th and 6th centuries.10 8 Tratnik, Karo 2018. 9 Turk, Rupnik 2013. 10 Brezigar, Rupnik 2017. LATE ANTIQUE CEMETERY Nine graves or their remains were excavated between 2009 and 2013. They were not aligned, but all were oriented with the head roughly in the west (Fig. 3). The grave pits were dug into the gravel to a depth of 0.1–0.6 m without noticeable remains of a stone lining or wooden coffins. The graves did not overlap, suggesting they were marked above ground in the time when the cemetery was in use. Next to Grave 1, excavation revealed three pits set in a line (Fig. 3), which may represent the remains of a structure, possibly funerary, of an as yet unclear form and date. The three pits were filled with dark brown earth that contained pieces of Roman-period building material, pottery sherds and bits of animal bones.11 Small fragments of Roman pottery, glassware and building material, as well as animal bones dating between the 1st and the 4th century also came to light in the fills of the grave pits, haphazardly distributed without apparent concentrations, some even under the skeletons.12 11 Tratnik, Karo 2018, 34–36. 12 Tratnik, Karo 2018, 25–34. 204 Vesna TRATNIK, Špela KARO The catalogue is based on the fieldwork documentation and subsequent desk-top analysis. Anthropologist Petra Leben Seljak analysed the skeletal remains and identified the sex and age of the deceased, estimated their stature (using the Manouvrier method), analysed the dentition remains, epigenetic traits, physical activity markers, pathological changes and potential other features.13 The basic data on a skeleton are given in the description of each grave. Eva Menart, Naro- dni muzej Slovenije, conducted XRF analyses on a selection of metal items. Author of drawings and tables: Ida Murgelj, Narodni muzej Slovenije. Author of pencil drawings (Pls. 1: 11,12; 4: 10,11) Teja Gerbec, Goriški muzej. Drawings of graves in ground plan (scale = 1:20): Manca Vinazza (Oddelek za arheologijo, Filozofska fakulteta Univerze v Ljublja- ni), Miha Mihelič, Nives Zupančič (Zavod za varstvo kulturne dediščine Slovenije, Center za preventivno arheologijo). The grave goods have been restored and are now kept in the regional museum of Goriški muzej.14 Silver = alloy with predominant silver content (Ag), other elements (such as Cu, Sn, Pb) are present in smaller shares. Bronze = alloy with predominant copper (Cu) and tin content (Sn), other elements (such as Pb) are present in smaller shares. Abbreviations: l. = length, diam. = diameter, reconstr. = reconstructed, w. = width, h. = height. 13 Leben Seljak 2018. 14 We thank Ana Kruh, curator at the Goriški muzej, for granting us access to the archaeological finds. Fig. 3: Miren – Japnišče. Plan of the investigated part of the Late Antique cemetery. The broken line marks the edge of the area excavated in 2011. (D96/TM coordinate system) Sl. 3: Miren – Japnišče. Tloris grobov v raziskanem delu poznoantičnega grobišča. S črto je označen rob izkopnega polja raziskav v letu 2011. (koordinatni sistem D96/TM) CATALOGUE OF GRAVES AND GRAVE GOODS 205Ostrogoths in Slovenia? Case study of a Late Antique cemetery in Miren, western Slovenia Graves 2009 Grave 1/2009 = Grave 2/2011 (Figs. 3; 4) Burial of an adult individual. The grave was in part exca- vated in 2009 and integrally in 2011, when it was also marked as Grave 2. Grave 2/2009 (Figs. 3; 4) Burial of a child. The collected bone samples revealed the deceased was between 1 and 2 years of age at death. The child was in an extended supine position with the head in the west. Without grave goods.15 15 Fabec 2018, 11–14, Fig. 11. Graves 2011 Grave 1 (Pl. 1: Gr. 1; Figs. 3; 4; 13) Burial of a woman (adultus I), around 30 years old, height 150 cm. She was in an extended supine position with the arms extended beside the torso and the head in the west. The bones were largely in anatomical position. Her skull has frontal-occipital deformation, which makes the skull short, forehead flat and severely inclined, occiput completely vertical. She is of very gracile build, probably left-handed. The radiocarbon analysis of a bone sample gave a broad dating from the early 5th to the mid-6th century (Fig. 5). She was found with a pair of gilded silver bow brooches (Pl. 1: 1,2) on the upper chest, two amber beads (Pl. 1: 8,9) on the lower chest, a silver belt buckle (Pl. 1: 3) above the Fig. 4: Miren – Japnišče. Individual graves viewed from above. Sl. 4: Miren – Japnišče. Posamični pogledi na grobove. 206 Vesna TRATNIK, Špela KARO pelvis and a small lead ring (Pl. 1: 4) next to the buckle. A bone spindle whorl (Pl. 1: 10) lay beside the right hand, a rod-shaped iron fragment (Pl. 1: 6) near the left hand. A similar iron fragment (Pl. 1: 7) was found beside the left tibia. Two fragments of thin sheet silver (Pl. 1: 5) lay at the feet. The fill of the grave, just above the skeleton, revealed a small silver nail or rivet (Pl. 1: 11) and a small bronze hook (Pl. 1: 12). 1. Radiate-headed bow brooch with five knobs on the head-plate. Gilded chip-carved decoration with a pair of opposing spirals on the semicircular head-plate, lozenges on the foot-plate and an animal head on the foot terminal. The edges of the head and foot, and the midline of the bow are decorated with a double line of opposing punched triangles with niello inlays. Round collets for gemstones (not surviving) are at the lateral corners of the foot-plate. The spring holder is cast to- gether with the brooch and held an iron spring attached via an axis. The catch is composed of two parts, namely a small lug cast together with the brooch and a small separately made copper plate that held the pin. Silver, gilding, copper, iron, niello. Remains of linen fibres survive on the brooch. L. 7.3 cm. Inv. No. AG 12199. 2. Radiate-headed bow brooch with five knobs on the head-plate. Gilded chip-carved decoration with a pair of opposing spirals on the semicircular head-plate, lozenges on the foot-plate and an animal head on the foot terminal. The edges of the head and foot, and the midline of the bow are decorated with a double line of opposing punched triangles with niello inlays. Round collets for gemstones are at the lateral corners of the foot-plate; one gemstone survives – a garnet, almandine Type I. The spring holder is cast together with the bro- och and held an iron spring attached via an axis. The catch is composed of two parts, namely a small lug cast together with the brooch and a small separately made copper plate that held the pin. Silver, gilding, copper, iron, niello. L. 7.2 cm. Inv. No. AG 12200. 3. Belt buckle. The loop is oval with a thinner strap bar. The tongue has a slightly widened club-shaped terminal, and a hook for attaching to the strap bar. Silver. L. 3.9 cm. Inv. No. AG 12201/1. 4. Ring. Lead. Diam. 1.8 cm. Inv. No. AG 12202. 5. Fragments of a thin folded metal sheet, with a border of embossed dots. Two of the fragments have a rivet hole and one surviving rivet. Silver. Reconstr. L. 2.2 cm, w. up to 1.2 cm. Inv. No. AG 12204. 6. Fragment of a rod-like object. Iron. L. 5.2 cm. Inv. No. AG 12206. 7. Fragment of a rod-like object. Iron. L. 2.6 cm. Inv. No. AG 12207. 8. Bead, annular, biconical. Amber. Diam. 2.3 cm. Inv. No. AG 12203/1. 9. Bead, annular, flat. Amber. Diam. 1.6 cm. Inv. No. AG 12203/2. 10. Loom weight, annular, flat, with horizontal incisions along the outer edge. Bone. Diam. 3 cm. Inv. No. AG 12205. 11. Small nail or a rivet with a disc head. Silver. H. 0.5 cm. Inv. No. AG 12201/2. 12. Fragment of an object bent at one end (hook). Bronze. L. 1.9 cm. Inv. No. AG 12235. Grave 2 (Pl. 2: Gr. 2; Figs. 3; 4) Burial of a young man (adultus I), around 25 years old, height 163 cm. He was in an extended supine position with the arms extended beside the torso and the head in the west. The grave pit and the skeleton were partially damaged. The surviving bones were in anatomical position. He was of a medium strong build, probably right-handed. He was found with a silver belt buckle (Pl. 2: 1) above the right pelvic bone and a group of items above the left one, comprising an iron knife with a wooden handle (Pl. 2: 6), a fire flint (Pl. 2: 7), a small bronze buckle with plate (Pl. 2: 4), bronze tweezers (Pl. 2: 3), fragment of an iron object (Pl. 2: 5) and several unidentifiable iron fragments. A fragment of folded sheet silver (Pl. 2: 2) was found at the left foot. A small silver nail or a rivet (Pl. 2: 8) was recovered from the fill of the grave pit. 1. Belt buckle. The loop is oval with a thinner strap bar. The tongue has a club-shaped terminal and a hook for attaching to the strap bar. Silver. L. 3.2 cm. Inv. No. AG 12208/1. 2. Fragment of a thin folded metal sheet fastened together with two rivets, with a border of embossed dots. Silver. L. 1.9 cm. Inv. No. AG 12214. 3. Tweezers with triangular terminals. The arm-terminal junction is decorated with parallel horizontal incisions. Bronze. L. 6.8 cm. Inv. No. AG 12210. 4. Small buckle with plate. The loop is oval with a thinner strap bar. The plate is separated (broken off) from the loop and not completely preserved. It has a solid body with a roughly 2 mm wide kidney-shaped metal frame into which a colourless glass inlay of the corresponding shape was set. One rivet survives on the plate. Bronze, glass inlay. Loop size 1.5 × 1.2 cm, belt plate size 1 × 0.6 cm. Inv. No. AG 12209. 5. Fragment of an unidentifiable object. Iron. L. 3.8 cm. Inv. No. AG 12212. 6. Knife with a flat tang. Part of the wooden handle, co- vered with a layer of corrosion, survives on the tang. Iron, wood. L. 8.6 cm. Inv. No. AG 12211. 7. Fire flint. Size 2.4 × 1.8 cm. Inv. No. AG 12213. 8. Small nail with a disc head. Silver. H. 0.5 cm. Inv. No. AG 12208/2. Fig. 5: Miren – Japnišče. Grave 1, radiocarbon dating of the bone sample. The analysis was conducted in the Beta Analytic Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory in Miami, USA. Sl. 5: Miren – Japnišče. Grob 1, radiokarbonska datacija kosti. Analiza je bila opravljena v Beta Analytic Radiocar- bon Dating Laboratory v Miamiju, ZDA. 207Ostrogoths in Slovenia? Case study of a Late Antique cemetery in Miren, western Slovenia Grave 3 (Pl. 1: Gr. 3; Fig. 3) Burial of a young individual, presumably woman (sex unreliable, adultus I), roughly 25 years old, height 157 cm. The deceased was in an extended supine position, with the head in the west. The grave pit and skeleton were damaged, the latter missing the upper body. The bones of the lower body were largely in anatomical position. For a woman, the body build is relatively robust. The damaged grave contained no grave goods. Grave 4 (Pl. 1: Gr. 4; Fig. 3) Burial of an adult woman, over 18 years old, height 158 cm. She was buried with the head in the west. The grave pit and the skeleton were heavily damaged, with only part of the lower legs surviving. The appropriate distance between the bones suggests they survived in anatomical position. Body build is gracile. The damaged grave contained no grave goods. Grave 5 (Pl. 2: Gr 5; Figs. 3; 4) Burial of a man, between 50 and 65 years old (maturus II–senilis), height 166 to 168 cm. He was in an extended supine position with the head in the southwest. The ske- leton survived almost complete, the bones were largely in anatomical position. Body build is robust and of an above-average height. Pathological alterations indicate a well-healed fracture below the left elbow. A silver belt buckle with surviving textile remains (Pl. 2: 1) was found above the left pelvic bone, large curved mounts of thin sheet silver and a suspended ring (Pl. 2: 2) were at the left tibia. Lower down, at the left foot was a fragment of a bronze item with a ring, possibly tweezers (Pl. 2: 3). An iron knife (Pl. 2: 4) and a fire flint (Pl. 2: 5) were at the right elbow. 1. Belt buckle. The loop is oval with a thinner strap bar. The tongue has a club-shaped terminal and a hook for attaching to the strap bar. Remains of a linen fabric survive on the buckle. Silver or silvered brass. L. 4.2 cm. Inv. No. AG 12215. 2. Two fragments of an oval or round mount. The U-secti- oned strap of thin sheet metal has three small (l. 1 cm) moulded transverse mounts attached with a rivet. The mount also incorporates a ring attached with an omega- -shaped loop. Mount: silver; ring: bronze. Longer section l. 20.3 cm, shorter section l. 8.4 cm, w. of folded strap 0.5 cm. Inv. No. AG 12216. 3. Tweezers on a ring. Only the arms survive, without the terminals. Bronze. Ring diam. 1.4 cm, arm l. 3.3 cm. Inv. No. AG 12217. 4. Knife with a straight back and flat tang. Iron. L. 12.8 cm. Inv. No. AG 12218. 5. Fire flint. Size 2.6 × 2.4 cm. Inv. No. AG 12219. Grave 6 (Pl. 3; Figs. 3; 4) Burial of a man, between 50 and 60 years old (maturus II), height 157 cm. He was in an extended supine position with the head in the southwest. He was of a medium robust build and low stature. A large and a small belt buckle, both with surviving textile remains (Pl. 3: 1,2), were found at the left hip. A group of iron objects was at the right hip that comprise the mount of a belt-purse (Pl. 3: 3), awl (Pl. 3: 4), knife blade (Pl. 3: 5), iron knife with part of the handle (Pl. 3: 6), several unidentifi- able iron objects (Pl. 3: 7–8) and a fire flint (Pl. 3: 9). A small jar (Pl. 3: 10) filled with earth and gravel was found at the left foot; the analysis of its contents did not reveal identifiable organic remains. 1. Belt buckle. The loop is kidney-shaped with oblique incisions on the upper surface. The tongue is decorated with transverse incisions. The underside holds surviving textile threads of an unidentifiable fabric in plain weave. Iron. L. 5 cm. Inv. No. AG 12220. 2. Belt buckle. The loop is oval with a thinner strap bar. The underside holds textile remains of an unidentifiable fabric. Iron. L. 3.1 cm. Inv. No. AG 12221. 3. Mount of a belt-purse. The loop terminals are thinned and upturned. The centre holds a square buckle with a missing tongue. Iron. L. 8.9 cm. Inv. No. AG 12222. 4. Awl. It has a round openwork loop and a bent tip. Iron. L. 9.9 cm. Inv. No. AG 12224. 5. Blade fragment of a knife. Iron. L. 10.5 cm. Inv. No. AG 12223. 6. Blade and handle fragment of a knife. The partially sur- viving wooden handle is covered in corrosion products; the small round protuberance on it is probably a rivet. Iron, wood. L. 9.8 cm. Inv. No. AG 12225. 7. Fragment of an object, unidentifiable. Iron. L. 4.8 cm. Inv. No. AG 12227/1. 8. Fragment of an object, unidentifiable. Iron. L. 4.5 cm. Inv. No. AG 12227/2. 9. Fire flint. Covered with corrosion products on both sides, use-wear not visible. Size 2.7 × 2.4 cm. Inv. No. AG 12226. 10. Jar, biconical, with a short and slightly everted rim. Hand-built, with circular traces made with a comb- -like object on the interior. Not symmetrical. Fabric: medium-grained with inclusions of calcium carbonate, and naturally present mica and iron oxides. Surface treatment: wiping. Firing: incomplete oxidation atmo- sphere, very hard. Interior and exterior surface colour: greyish-brown. H. 11.6 cm. Inv. No. AG 12228. Grave 7 (Pl. 4; Figs. 3; 4) Burial of a young woman, 22 years old (adultus I), height 155 cm. She was in an extended supine position with the head in the west. Her skull has frontal-occipital deformati- on. She was of a gracile build with the exception of rather robust fibulae and astragali. A pair of iron crossbow brooches (Pl. 4: 1,2) were found on the chest. Several glass (Pl. 4: 5,7,8) and one amber bead (Pl. 4: 6) were to the right of the lumbar vertebrae. An iron belt buckle (Pl. 4: 3) was above the right pelvic bone, a glass beaker (Pl. 4: 4) at the right foot; the beaker content was analysed but could not be identified. The fill of the grave pit revealed one glass (Pl. 4: 9) and one amber bead (Pl. 4: 10), a small iron nail (Pl. 4: 11) and part of a loom weight (Pl. 4: 12). 1. Crossbow brooch with a firm catch plate, probably the Invillino type. Bow is short and semicircular in section, foot is triangular-sectioned with a missing terminal. Head and spring are heavily corroded, number of coils not identifiable. Iron. L. 4.9 cm. Inv. No. AG 12229. 2. Crossbow brooch with a firm catch plate, the Vimina- cium type. Bow and foot are flat and roughly equally 208 Vesna TRATNIK, Špela KARO long, foot has a rolled end. Catch is heavily corroded, but appears to be bent up to reach the foot. Spring is corroded, chord runs above the spring and not around the head, number of coils is unidentifiable. Pin is mis- sing. Iron. L. 4.5 cm. Inv. No. AG 12230. 3. Belt buckle. Loop is oval and thinned at the strap bar. Iron. L. 5.1 cm. Inv. No. AG 12231. 4. Beaker with a concave base and a fire-rounded and thickened rim edge. Colourless, slightly greenish glass. Reconstr. h. 6.2 cm. Inv. No. AG 12234. 5. Bead, spherical. Dark blue glass with red and white inclusions. Diam. 1.3 cm. Inv. No. AG 12232/1. 6. Bead, annular. Amber. Diam. 2.6 cm. Inv. No. AG 12232/2. 7. Bead, annular. Blue-green glass. Diam. 2.1 cm. Inv. No. AG 12232/3. 8. Bead, annular. Green glass. Diam. 1.2 cm. Inv. No. AG 12232/4. TYPO-CHRONOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE GRAVE GOODS Brooches The two radiate-headed brooches from Grave 1 (Pl. 1: Gr. 1/1,2; Fig. 6) belong to the type with spiral decoration on a semicircular head-plate, lozenge-shaped foot with chip-carved lozenge decoration and animal-headed foot terminal.17 Herbert Kuhn identified them as the Gurzuf type that incorporates numerous brooches that differ in details;18 Dieter Quast identified them as the Szentes-Trento type (Trient in German), which is more uniform.19 Both authors date them to the second half of the 5th and first half of the 6th century.20 Quast distinguishes between earlier (length most frequently 5 to 6 cm) examples, with a wide bow and a clearly depicted animal head on the foot terminal, and later examples (length 7 to 15 cm), which are marked by more precisely rendered decorative details on the he- ad and foot, different proportions and the head and foot commonly bordered with a pattern of triangles with niello inlays.21 The brooches of the early group are most frequent in Pannonia,22 for example in the cemeteries at Szentes-Kökényzug 17 Bierbrauer 1975, 108−114; Bierbrauer 2010, 67. 18 Kühn 1974, 728–742. 19 Quast 2002, 589–590. 20 Bierbrauer 1975, 104–106. 21 Quast 2002, 589–593, Pl. 4. 22 Kazanski, Mastykova 2017, 158; Quast 2002, 590, Fig. 3. 9. Bead, biconical. Transparent glass. Diam. 0.6 cm. Inv. No. AG 12232/5. 10. Bead, flat, crushed. Amber. Size 1.2 × 0.9 cm. Inv. No. AG 12232/6. 11. Small nail with a hemispherical head, shank missing. Iron. Head diam. 0.8 cm. Not inventoried. 12. Half of a biconical loom weight. Clay. H. 1.8 cm. Inv. No. AG 12233. Grave 2013 (Fig. 3) Burial of a child. The child was 5–6 years old at death, buried in an extended supine position with the head in the west. The grave contained no grave goods.16 16 Turk, Rupnik 2013, 5–6, 9, 12, Figs. 3–5. and Szentes-Nagyhegy,23 Sirmium,24 with individual examples also found in northern Italy (Trento),25 in Altenerding26 and the Crimean.27 The distri- bution of the late forms in the west spans from northern Italy to central Germany, with examples from Brescia,28 Weimar,29 Straubing,30 while in the east they concentrate in the Crimean.31 The origin of the large radiate-headed bow brooches is sought32 in the Danube Basin in the second half of the 5th century, when these areas were inhabited predominately by Germanic peo- ples. Burials in Pannonia that revealed cast objects with chip-carved decoration, including radiate- -headed bow brooches, have been dated to Phase D3 or the second half of the 5th century.33 In this time, a characteristic female costume developed 23 Vinski 1972–1973, 193–195, Note 84, Pl. 2: 24,25; Kühn 1974, 732, 734, Pl. 261: 64/19, 46/23; Slabe 1975, 58, 59. 24 Kazanski, Mastykova 2017, Pl. 3: 1. 25 Cavada 1994, 228, Figs. III. 131; III. 132. 26 Losert, Pleterski 2003, 95, Fig. 9: 3. 27 The Kerč site: Kühn 1974, Pl. 262: 64/55. 28 Werner 1961, 25, Pl. 18: 80a, 80b; Bierbrauer 1975, 104, 339, Pl. 52: 1. 29 Bierbrauer 1975, 104, Pl. 73: 3; Kühn 1981, 388–389, Pl. 87: 596. 30 Geisler 1998, 26, Pl. 24: Gr. 100/1,2. 31 Quast 2002, 590, Fig. 3; Khairedinova 2019, 132, Fig. 7. 32 Popović, Kazanski, Ivanišević 2017, 267–268; this refers to the group of large cast radiate-headed bow brooches of different subtypes. 33 Heinrich-Tamáska, Straub 2015, 634: the contribu- tion deals with the areas of Pannonia Prima and Valeria, where the two authors joined the burials with such items in Type 5. 209Ostrogoths in Slovenia? Case study of a Late Antique cemetery in Miren, western Slovenia in the Danube Basin that Jaroslav Tejral calls the ‘Danubian–East Germanic cultural complex’ (do- nauländisch-ostgermanischer Kulturkomplex)34 and Volker Bierbrauer ‘East Germanic koiné’ (ostger- manische Koiné),35 while Michel Kazanski uses a more general term devoid of an ethnic connotation, namely ‘Danubian fashion’ (mode danubienne).36 Brooches and several other decorative objects from graves in Pannonia (for example from the cemetery at Zsibót-Domolopspuszta) are similar to those from Italy under the Ostrogothic Kingdom, but it is not possible to tie these burials either to specific historical events in Pannonia or to a specific Germanic ethnic group (gentes).37 The material evidence from the Danube Basin of the 5th century, particularly the grave goods associated with members of the upper class, does display similarities identifiable as an East Germanic ko- iné, but without enabling a more precise ethnic identification.38 In their detailed decoration, in the border pat- tern of triangles with niello inlays and the slightly elongated foot, the pair of brooches from Miren belong to the later group of the Szentes-Trento type brooches according to the Quast typology, datable to the late (second half of the) 5th and first half of the 6th century. The forms, distribution and man- ner of wearing such items suggest that the objects from Miren’s Grave 1 point to connections with 34 Tejral 2012, 117–126. 35 Bierbrauer 2011, 375–376. 36 Kazanski 1989. 37 op. cit., Fig. 7: 3. 38 Bierbrauer 2011, 375–376; Heinrich-Tamáska, Straub 2015, 634; Rácz 2019, 780–789. the Danube Basin, on the one side, and with Italy under the Ostrogothic Kingdom, on the other. In Slovenia, other brooches of the late group of the Szentes-Trento type came to light in the cemeteries in Dravlje39 and Kranj-Lajh,40 in the hilltop set- tlements on Gradec near Velika Strmica,41 Zidani gaber42 and as a stray find in Ljubljana.43 The two brooches from Miren are cast and share the same form and decorative details of the head- and foot-plates, only slightly differing in length, by 1 mm. Their XRF analyses44 have shown they are made of a silver alloy (roughly 88% Ag, as well as Cu, Zn and Pb), gilded (the presence of mercury suggests the process of fire gilding) and decorated with niello inlays. The punched triangles that form the decorative borders are inlaid with a dark sub- stance that measurements revealed as containing copper, zinc, lead and sulphur (up to 1%), with the last element being an indicator of one of the several known niello production methods.45 Only one gemstone survives (Pl. 1: Gr. 1/2; Fig. 6); it is a garnet, more precisely a Type I almandine,46 such as most commonly originate from India.47 The marked similarity in the form, decoration, base alloy composition and production process for gilding and niello suggest that the production of the two brooches was closely related, possibly in the same goldsmith’s workshop. This assumption is supported by their position in the same grave, where they were placed as a pair (set). The pin of one of the two brooches (Pl. 1: Gr. 1/1) also bore the remains of linen fibres (Linum usitatissimum) surviving in corrosion products. They survive in a condition too poor to identify the weave,48 but do allow a conclusion that the deceased in this grave was buried in a linen garment. 39 Slabe 1975, 13, Pl. 1: 1,2. 40 Urek et al. 2016a, 233, Fig. 123. 41 The head-plate with scrollwork decoration survives: Klasinc 1999, 18, Pl. 1: 2; Bitenc, Knific 2008, Fig. 2: 8. 42 Bitenc, Knific 2008, Fig. 2: 13a, b. 43 Bitenc, Knific 2008, Fig. 2: 14. 44 For the purposes of base alloy measurements, we selected a spot on the underside of the foot-plate that has a shiny, silvery surface without visible patina. Measure- ments by: Eva Menart, Narodni muzej Slovenije; Hitachi X-MET 8000 (XRF handheld analyzer). 45 Newman, Denis, Farell 1982. 46 Kramar, Kavkler, Dolenec 2018, 55. 47 Mathis et al. 2008; Šmit et al. 2014. 48 Kramar, Kavkler, Dolenec 2018, 56–57. Fig. 6: Miren – Japnišče. Grave 1, bow brooch with surviv- ing garnet inlay, front and back. Not to scale. Sl. 6: Miren – Japnišče. Grob 1, ločna fibula z ohranjenim granatom, pogled na sprednjo in hrbtno stran. Ni v merilu. 210 Vesna TRATNIK, Špela KARO The iron examples from Grave 7 (Pl. 4: 1,2) are crossbow brooches with a firm catch plate. The brooch on Pl. 4: 2 is of the Viminacium type.49 This is a type classified between the early (bow longer than foot) and the late crossbow brooches (bow shorter than foot) and dated from the second third of the 5th to the early 6th century.50 They are most common in the Balkans, in the forts and ce- meteries along the Danube limes; but individually also occur north of the Danube.51 Alongside the brooch from Limberk,52 the example from Miren is the most western known brooch of this type. The other crossbow brooch (Pl. 4: 1) has a short bow and a long foot, indicating a later production attributable to the late 5th and early 6th century.53 The length of the spring is not discernible, hence the brooch is tentatively identified as the Invillino type. Brooches of this type are most common in the south-eastern Alpine area, several examples are also known from the western Balkans.54 It is as yet unclear whether the crossbow broo- ches with a firm catch plate were part of the male (Roman) or female (Germanic) costume. The ar- chaeological contexts indicate they were worn by both Roman and Germanic populations.55 In the case of Miren, the paired position on the chest, the associated grave goods, the skeletal remains ascribed to a woman and the artificially deformed skull show that the two crossbow brooches can be seen as parts of a Germanic female costume. Belts Belt buckles came to light in four graves at Miren. Three substantial silver buckles (Pls. 1: Gr. 1/3; 2: Gr. 2/1, Gr. 5/1) have an oval round- -sectioned loop and a triangular or semicircular- -sectioned tongue with a club-shaped terminal. The 2–3 cm of interior diameter and the position on the lower abdomen indicate they served to fasten belt straps. Such buckles were widespread in the 5th and 6th centuries and particularly common at the sites in the Danube Basin associated with a Germanic 49 Schulze-Dörrlamm 1986, 605–608, Fig. 11; Milavec 2009, 240. 50 Milavec 2009, 224–225. 51 Schulze-Dörrlamm 1986, 606; Ivanišević, Kazanski, Mastykova 2006, 17, Fig. 8: 13–16; Milavec 2009, 240. 52 Milavec 2009, Pl. 1: 1. 53 Schulze-Dörrlamm 1986, 642–643. 54 Milavec 2011a, 26–27, Fig. 2: 1. 55 Schulze-Dörrlamm 1986, 593, Notes 2 and 5, 694; Bierbrauer 2015, 203−208, 291−294; Milavec 2009. population,56 though examples also came to light in the Balkans57 and the eastern Mediterranean.58 In Italy, silver buckles of this shape are common on sites associated with the Goths.59 At Frascaro in northern Italy, for example, such a buckle was found in a grave together with a quarter siliqua of Theodoric (491–518), which shows the burial should be dated to or after the time of Theodo- ric.60 Also associated with the Goths is such a buckle from Globasnitz/Globasnica in Austria.61 In Slovenia, parallels came to light in the graves from Dravlje,62 Rifnik63 and Kranj-Lajh.64 Also associated with belts in Miren are the two small silver nails from Graves 1 and 2 that likely served as belt mounts or rivets with a disc head (Pls. 1: Gr. 1/11; 2: Gr. 2/8). Such rivets occur in 6th-century graves in Illyricum together with silver oval buckles with a straight tongue and buckles with a shield tongue.65 They are widespread among barbarian populations along the Danube, at sites associated with the Gepids,66 but also in northern Italy at sites associated with the Goths.67 Grave 6 held three buckles (Pl. 3: 1–3). The large iron buckle (interior loop diam. of 4 cm) was presumably fitted on a belt, the smaller iron buckle (interior loop diam. of 2.4 cm) on a nar- rower strap attached to a purse and the iron mo- unt with a buckle (interior loop diam. of 1.2 cm) formed part of the purse proper (see the chapter on purse buckles). Such iron belt buckles were in use in Europe from the Late Roman period, in the eastern part of 56 Csongrád-Kattöshalom, Kiszombor, Szolnok-Szanda (for more detail, see Ivanišević, Kazanski, Mastykova 2006, 22), as well as Szentes-Kökényzug, Szentes-Nagyhegy, Szentes-Berekhát (Csallány 1961, Pl. XII:1; XXXV: 3; LXIX: 7; LXXVIII: 10), which are sites traditionally associated with the Gepids. 57 Singidunum, Viminacium, Knin, Prahovo: Ivanišević, Kazanski, Mastykova 2006, 22 (with further references for individual sites). 58 Ivanišević, Kazanski, Mastykova 2006, 22. 59 Giostra 2007, 303–305. 60 Micheletto 2003, 61 Glaser 2006, 96, Fig. 10. 62 Slabe 1975, Gr. 43, Pl. 16: 5. 63 Bolta 1981, Gr. 74. 64 In Graves 60, 75 and 110 (Stare 1980, Pls. 27: 1; 30: 4; 41: 3); the burials cannot be more precisely dated. 65 Ivanišević, Kazanski, Mastykova 2006, 26, Pls. 24: 38/7; 144: 144/4. 66 Ivanišević, Kazanski, Mastykova 2006, 26. 67 Micheletto 2003, 702, Fig. 7. 211Ostrogoths in Slovenia? Case study of a Late Antique cemetery in Miren, western Slovenia the Roman Empire from the 4th century onwards;68 they are relatively frequently associated with Ger- manic burials.69 In the Balkans, they are known in the cemeteries of the 5th and 6th centuries.70 The buckle on Pl. 2: Gr. 5/1 and both iron buckles (Pl. 3: Gr. 6/1,2) hold textile fibres remains.71 For the small iron buckle (Pl. 3: Gr. 6/2), the weave and fabric could not be ascertained. Preserved best are the textile fibres on the silver buckle (Fig. 7), where analysis revealed plain woven linen (Linum usitatissimum). For the buckle on Pl. 3: Gr. 6/1, analysis could only show that the fabric was plain woven. The weave density is greater on the rema- ins on the silver buckle compared with that on the iron example; this suggests that the deceased man buried in Grave 5 wore a silver buckle and a garment of a fabric more finely woven than the garment of the deceased woman buried with an iron belt buckle in Grave 6.72 Purse buckles The iron mount from Grave 6 (Pl. 3: 3) with a small buckle in the centre formed part of a purse. 68 Ivanišević, Kazanski, Mastykova 2006, 20. 69 For example in Straubing (Geisler 1998, 12, 24, 65, 114, 190, Pls. 11: Gr. 47/1; 21: Gr. 94/1; 61: Gr. 240/1; 61: Gr. 241/1; 109: Gr. 357/1; 188: Gr. 517/1) and Altenerding in Bavaria (Losert, Pleterski 2003, 202–203, 307–308, Fig. 33), where the buckles were found almost without excep- tion in the waist area of both male and female skeletons. 70 Dravlje (Slabe 1975, e.g. Pls. 2: 14; 3: 1); Kranj-Lajh (Stare 1980, e.g. Pls. 3: 1; 15: 6; 19: 9), Knin (Vinski 1991, Pls. 5: 7; 7: 11). Ivanišević, Kazanski, Mastykova 2006, 21 (e.g. Viminacium, Golemanovo Kale). 71 Kramar, Kavkler, Dolenec 2018, 56–58. 72 Kramar, Kavkler, Dolenec 2018, 56–58. Typologically, it belongs to purse mounts with a straight central part and loop terminals.73 They are not always readily identifiable, particularly when poorly preserved, as iron strike-a-lights may have a similar shape.74 The similar mounts from the cemeteries at Altenerding, Basel-Kleinhüningen and Fellbach-Schmiden have been dated betwe- en 450 and 525, the mount from the cemetery at Pleidelsheim between 530 and 555.75 Purses with such mounts were frequent among the Franks and Alamanni,76 and less common in the Balkans,77 Pannonia78 and the Crimean.79 However similar purse mounts came to light in the cemetery at Kranj-Lajh80 and the settlements on Tonovcov grad81 and Rudna near Rudnica.82 Purses are frequent finds in the graves of men and sometimes children buried in the 5th and 6th centuries.83 They were usually made of textile or leather and are most frequently unearthed in graves in the waist area; those recovered from the ceme- tery in Kranj are often at the head.84 These purses contained small items for daily use. Considering the position of the items in Grave 6, the purse from this grave is believed to have contained an awl, two knives, a fire flint and two other objects that could not be identified (Pl. 3: 4–9). The purse in Grave 2 held tweezers, an iron knife, a fire flint and another iron item (Pl. 2: 3,5–7). 73 Losert, Pleterski 2003, 374–375. 74 For a comparison between purse mounts and strike- -a-lights, see: Roes 1967. 75 Losert, Pleterski 2003, 375, Fig. 96: 9. List A445; Sage 1984, 165, Pl. 77: 11; Koch 2001, 84–85, 301–302, Fig. 22, Pl. 38: Gr. 95/6). 76 Losert, Pleterski 2003, 375. They are less common in the Langobard or Thuringian cemeteries. 77 Viminacium (unclear whether it is a strike-a-light or a mount with a buckle): Ivanišević, Kazanski, Mastykova 2006, 44, Pl. 44: Gr. 2142/ 5; they cite parallels from Kormadin-Jakovo; Golemanovo Kale: Uenze 1992, 193, Pl. 11: 7, she also cites a parallel from Rakovčani (BIH). 78 Cemetery on the south side of the fort at Keszthely- -Fenékpuszta from the mid-5th century: Straub 2011, Pls. 3: 6; 6: 4. 79 Aibabin, Khairedinova 2017, Fig. 123: 2,7 (purse mount, with slightly different upturned terminals). 80 Stare 1980, Pls. 18: 6; 40: 1; 41: 10; 55: 11; 60: 6; 64: 13; 85: 2; 99: 3; 103: 5; 125: 1; Knific 1995, 34, 36, Fig. 9: 2; Bitenc, Knific 2001, 71, 72, Cat. No. 225; Urek et al. 2016a, 160, 164, 251–252, Figs. 164; 165; Urek et al. 2016b, Pls. 116: 5 (Gr. 60/2009); 120: 3 (Gr. 67/2009). 81 Milavec 2011a, 46, Pl. 8: 21. 82 Bitenc, Knific 2001, 74, Cat. No. 240. 83 Vinski 1980, 26; Losert, Pleterski 2003, 371–372. 84 Urek et al. 2016b, Pls. 86; 90; 96; 116. Fig. 7: Miren – Japnišče. Grave 5, textile remains on the silver belt buckle. Not to scale. Sl. 7: Miren – Japnišče. Grob 5, ostanki tkanine na srebrni pasni sponi. Ni v merilu. 212 Vesna TRATNIK, Špela KARO The small bronze buckle with plate (Pl. 2: Gr. 2/4; Fig. 8) belongs to the group of Mediterranean miniature buckles with a kidney-shaped plate.85 Its interior loop diameter of 1 cm and the position at the level of lumbar vertebrae alongside tweezers, a fire flint and a knife (Pl. 2: Gr. 2/3,6,7) suggest it was used to fasten a purse. There are two known variants of such buckles (Type C2), which served to fasten footwear or purse straps. The earlier variant (with the ear- liest examples dating to the second third of the 5th century) has a mount with a central bar that divides it into two parts, each of which holds a cloisonné almandine; this variant is only known in the Crimean.86 The buckle from Miren belongs to a slightly later variant,87 which has a one-piece plate with a kidney-shaped and either almandine or glass inlay.88 Some examples of this variant came to light in the Crimean, but they are more nume- rous in the central Danube Basin, with individual examples also known from Italy and Bavaria.89 Grave 5 held a fragmented mount of a folded thin silver sheet (Pl. 2: Gr. 5/2; Fig. 9), which was found at the left tibia of the deceased. The short transverse mounts presumably served to fix the oval mount to the base. The deformation makes it unclear whether the mount was also originally oval; if so, it would measure more than 10 cm in diameter. The lower edges of the mount are 85 Schulze-Dörrlamm 2009, 86–88. 86 op. cit. 87, including Notes 396 to 398. 87 The earliest date to the last third of the 5th century: Schulze-Dörrlamm 2009, 87, 89. 88 Schulze-Dörrlamm 2009, 87–88. 89 Schulze-Dörrlamm 2009, distribution map in Fig. 29. Central Danube Basin: Csallány 1961, Pl. CXCI: 1. Bavaria: Straubing (Geisler 1998, Pl. 24: 5, in Grave 100 together with a pair of Szentes-Trento bow brooches). 0.15–0.3 cm apart and the rivets on the transverse straps are 0.2–0.3 cm long. Two similar oval mounts were found in the Early Bavarian cemetery at Straubing90 and the Alamannic cemetery at Dittenheim in Germany;91 Both have been interpreted as part of a purse. Also of a similar shape is the rim mount of the precious purse lid of sheet gold and semi-precious stones found in the ship-burial at Sutton Hoo.92 Also made in this fashion are the rim mounts of wooden vessels,93 but they are round and usually survive together with several other metal mounts, attachments and a handle. Similar U-sectioned mounts with a similar manner of attachment are also used as scabbard guttering.94 The U-sectioned mount from Miren may have formed part of a purse, a vessel or some other object. Analyses of the soil sample taken near the mount revealed no wood or other organic material (leather).95 The length of the rivets and the thickness of the lower edge suggest that the mount was fitted on leather or very thin pieces of wood or other material. Tweezers Tweezers such as those from Miren (Pls. 2: Gr. 2/3; 2: Gr. 5/3) were mostly made of bronze, rarely iron, and were used for personal hygiene and medical purposes already in the Roman period, but also in Late Antiquity.96 In the 5th and 6th centuries, they 90 Geisler 1998, 130–131. Pl. 124: 8. 91 Dannheimer 1987, 68, Fig. 44. 92 Carver 1998, 34–35, 126–127. 93 Freeden, von 2018, 91–93. 94 Cf. Viminacium: Ivanišević, Kazanski, Mastykova 2006, Pl. 39: Gr. 1876: 2; Straubing: Geisler 1998, Pl. 168: 469/3. 95 Kramar, Kavkler, Dolenec 2018, 58. 96 Riha 1986, 36; Milavec 2011a, 62–63. Fig. 8: Miren – Japnišče. Grave 2, purse buckle. Not to scale. Sl. 8: Miren – Japnišče. Grob 2, spona na torbici. Ni v merilu. Fig. 9: Miren – Japnišče. Grave 5, silver mounts. Not to scale. Sl. 9: Miren – Japnišče. Grob 5, srebrn okov. Ni v merilu. 213Ostrogoths in Slovenia? Case study of a Late Antique cemetery in Miren, western Slovenia were common goods in male burials, where they are mostly found in the waist area.97 The bronze ring inserted into the loop of the tweezers from Grave 5 indicates they could have been suspended (from a belt?), while others may have been stored in purses.98 Iron knives In Late Antiquity, iron knives were very com- mon goods in the graves of both men and women and their form witnessed relatively minor changes over a long period of time.99 The knives with a straight back have a wide distribution across the former Roman Empire, but also in Barbaricum; in the Balkans, they are common in the graves from the 5th and 6th centuries.100 In Miren, knives came to light in Graves 2, 5 and 6 (Pls. 2: Gr. 2/6, Gr. 5/4; 3: Gr. 6/5,6), all burials of men and all with knives in the waist area, together with other items of everyday use such as fire flints and tweezers. The position of the knives recovered from burials associated with Germanic populations suggest that men commonly wore them together with other items in a purse, whereas women wore them on a strap suspended from a belt.101 Two of the knives from Miren survive with part of the wooden handle (Pls. 2: Gr. 2/6; 3: Gr. 6/6). Only the knife from Grave 5 (Pl. 2: Gr. 5/4) could be reconstructed in length, measuring roughly 13 cm. Knife blades measured between 1.6 and 2.2 cm in width. Knives of a similar size came to light in the graves of men and women in the cemeteries in Dravlje102 and Kranj-Lajh, where those in the graves of men were stored in a purse, placed next to a purse or found lying in the waist or tibia area.103 Iron object, probably awl Grave 6 yielded an item (Pl. 3: 4) that has its upper end curved to form a loop and is tentatively 97 Ivanišević, Kazanski, Mastykova 2006, 34–35, Figs. 17; 42: 7–9; Losert, Pleterski 2003, 246–247. Cf. Graves 6/2004 and 80/2009 of the cemetery at Kranj-Lajh (Podobnik 2016, 73–76, Pl. 5; 6; Urek et al. 2016a, 251–256; Urek et al. 2016b, 73, Pl. 128: 6 (Gr. 80/2009). 98 Slabe 1975, 70, 71; Klasinc 1999, 69, 70. 99 Miletić 1970, 151; Slabe 1975, 72; Losert, Pleterski 2003, 240. 100 Ivanišević, Kazanski, Mastykova 2006, 45. 101 Losert, Pleterski 2003, 237–238, 380; Ivanišević, Kazanski, Mastykova 2006, Pls. 22: 135; 28: 145; 30: 151; 44: 2195. 102 Slabe 1975, 72. 103 Podobnik 2016, 69, 75; Urek et al. 2016a, 248–249. interpreted as an awl. Awls were used in the proces- sing of leather, textile, wood and bone.104 In Late Antiquity, awls are common in the graves of men attributed to the Romans105 and those attributed to different Germanic peoples.106 The Late Antique burials from the Crimean and from Viminacium rarely contain awls,107 but they are very frequent in the Bavarian cemetery at Straubing, where graves could even hold more than one example.108 Glass and amber beads Beads could be strung onto necklaces, bracelets or strings suspended from belts. The beads from Graves 1 and 7 (Pls. 1: Gr. 1/8,9; 4: Gr. 7/5–10) were found in the chest area, suggesting they formed necklaces. Parallels are known from numerous sites of the 5th and 6th centuries.109 The grave goods from the cemeteries of the 5th and 6th centuries show an extensive use of amber beads of different shapes and sizes in combination with glass beads of different shapes, sizes and co- lours. This is also the case at Viminacium, where a parallel came to light for the bead from Miren of dark blue glass with applied red and white dots (Pl. 4: Gr. 7/5).110 Such beads were widespread from the Black Sea to Gaul and northern Europe. They appeared in the second quarter of the 5th and were most common in the second half of the 5th century.111 Those from the cemeteries in the Danube Basin have been dated to the second third and second half of the 5th century, those from the graves in northern Italy to the second half of the 5th century. At the fringes of the Danube area they remained in use to the mid-6th century, with only rare examples of a later date, which led 104 Losert, Pleterski 2003, 387–388, Fig. 99: 12–22. 105 Horvat, Žbona Trkman 2015, 113. 106 Miletić 1970, 149–150; Losert, Pleterski 2003, 388. 107 Lučistoje, Crimean: Aibabin, Khairedinova 2008, awl- like object on Pl. 73: 7. Viminacium (no awls): Ivanišević, Kazanski, Mastykova 2006. 108 Giesler 1998, Pls. 218: 620/11,12; 272: 749/14,15. 109 E.g. Slabe 1975, 51–53; Vinski 1980, 23; Bitenc, Knific 2001, 65–66, Cat. No. 202; 71, Cat. No. 224; 80, Cat. No. 257; 82, Cat. No. 266; Losert, Pleterski 2003, 250–262; Ivanišević, Kazanski, Mastykova 2006, 51–117; Podobnik 2016, 53–60; Micheletto, Giostra, Bedini 2019, 370, 371, Fig. 5. 110 Ivanišević, Kazanski, Mastykova 2006, Figs. 51: 1–12; 72. 111 Ivanišević, Kazanski, Mastykova 2006, Type 34, 73–76, Fig. 67: 53–54 (with earlier references and parallels from other cemeteries). 214 Vesna TRATNIK, Špela KARO authors to presume that their production ended before that.112 At sites in Slovenia, this bead type occurs individually in the cemeteries at Kranj-Lajh113 and Dravlje,114 but also at the hilltop settlements on Sveta gora in the Zasavje region, Kicelj near Gorenja vas pri Šmarjeti,115 Korinjski hrib116 and Tonovcov grad.117 Footwear Remains of footwear may be identified in the mounts of thin sheet silver found at the feet of the deceased (Pls. 1: Gr. 1/5; 2: Gr. 2/2). The metal sheet is folded along one edge and the two parts fixed together with a rivet and the edges decorated with embossed dots. The two mounts are very similar, but occurred singly in two different graves. Mounts and strap ends of different forms and made of thin sheet silver or bronze, exceptionally even gold, but also small buckles that belonged to footwear came to light in the cemetery at Kranj-Lajh.118 Many different sets of footwear from the 5th and 6th centuries have been published as part of graves in the south-western Crimean,119 though none that would be close parallels for the items from Miren. Footwear strap ends typically have a rivet on the folded part, while the pieces from Miren have a pair of rivets just below the folded edge, with the length of the surviving rivets measuring 0.3 cm. The mounts may also have formed part of wooden vessels,120 which would have very thin, up to 0.3 cm thick walls/staves; such vessels usually have several mounts of this kind. Loom weights – spindle whorls Graves of women in Miren held two such items (Pls. 1: Gr. 1/10; 4: Gr. 7/12). The bone weight in Grave 1 was lying at the right palm, while the weight in Grave 7 was made of clay and found in the fill of the grave pit. In the Late Antiquity biconical clay weights were widespread in the 112 Ivanišević, Kazanski, Mastykova 2006, 73–76. 113 Urek et al. 2016a, 66, Pls. 108; 135: 2; Urek et al. 2016b, 235, 238. 114 Slabe 1975, 25, 28, Pls. 11: 3–5; 15: 30. 115 Bitenc, Knific 2001, 82, Cat. No. 266. 116 Milavec 2020, 76, Fig. 3.2. (top bead), Pl. 13: 2. 117 Milavec 2011a, 32–33, Pl. 4: 7. 118 Vinski 1980, 23; Stare 1980, Pls. 2: 5; 21: 8; 27: 5,6; 97: 8; 106: 12. 119 Khairedinova 2003. 120 Freeden, von 2018, 90–91; Ivanišević, Kazanski, Mastykova 2006, Pl. 37: 1516/ 3. Balkans, among the barbarian populations in the Danube Basin and on Byzantine territory at the Black Sea.121 The bone weights of this period are disc-shaped and frequently decorated with incisions, with parallels including those from the Late Antique fort at Golemanovo Kale.122 The parallels from the cemeteries at Kranj-Lajh,123 Viminacium124 and Straubing125 indicate that the loom weights were frequently suspended on straps hanging from belts. Glass beaker The glass vessel from Grave 7 (Pl. 4: 4; Fig. 10) is an Isings 106 beaker, the distribution of which spans the Roman Empire; they were most common from the 4th to the mid-5th century. In hilltop settlements, they continued to be used in the second half of the 5th and the 6th century.126 Ceramic jar The jar from Grave 6 (Pl. 3: 10) is hand-built and biconical. Similar jars came to light in the cemetery at Viminacium, in a grave from the first half of the 6th century,127 and at Hács-Bendekpuszta (western Hungary), Ivanovice and Šaratice (Moravia).128 Based on form alone, these jars cannot be dated more precisely. 121 Ivanišević, Kazanski, Mastykova 2006, 46. 122 Uenze 1992, Pl. 14: 9–17. 123 Podobnik 2016, 68, Pl. 3; Urek et al. 2016b, Pls. 81: Gr. 4; 84: Gr. 10. 124 Ivanišević, Kazanski, Popović 2006, Pl. 37: 1516/ 2. 125 Geisler 1998, Pls. 196: 546/ 9; 208: 600/ 11. 126 Milavec 2011b, 105–106. Milavec 2020, 87, Pl. 30: 10,12. 127 Ivanišević, Kazanski, Mastykova 2006, 216, Pl. 40: 2005. 128 Ivanišević, Kazanski, Mastykova 2006, 48 (with references). Fig. 10: Miren – Japnišče. Grave 7, walls and base of a glass beaker. Not to scale. Sl. 10: Miren – Japnišče. Grob 7, ostenje in dno steklenega kozarca. Ni v merilu. 215Ostrogoths in Slovenia? Case study of a Late Antique cemetery in Miren, western Slovenia The Late Antique graves from Slovenia most frequently hold drinking vessels and rarely other types of pottery. Five of the graves from Rifnik held small, roughly 7 cm high beakers,129 a sin- gle-handled beaker was also placed in two of the graves on Ajdovski gradec above Vranje.130 OBJECTS OF LOWER DANUBIAN ORIGIN FROM THE LATE 4th AND EARLY 5th CENTURIES IN SLOVENIA The interpretation of the Miren cemetery opens with a discussion on the artefacts that shed light on the beginning of intensified contacts with the Danube Basin and the presence of foreign elements, also Germanic, on the territory of Slovenia towards the end of the 4th and the early 5th century. This is a time when objects appear at Slove- nian sites that draw their origin from the Lower and Middle Danube Basin. These objects are associated with the late phase of the Chernya- khov-Sîntana de Mureş culture in modern-day Ukraine, Romania and Moldova. Over a brief period, the objects characteristic of this (post-) Cherrnyakhov culture spread across central and western Europe as far as central Spain.131 It is also a time when the ‘foederati’ culture developed in the provinces along the Danube limes that combined (post-)Chernyakhov and provincial influences.132 Both phenomena are important for understanding the complex process of migrations, the fusing of different cultures and the creation of new administrative entities (kingdoms) that were to flourish later, in the 6th century. The objects that originate from the southern Danube Basin include crossbow brooches of the 129 Bolta 1981, Gr. 6, 22, 40, 44, 86. In a grave of a child (Pl. 5: Gr. 37), all grave goods were placed into a jar. A total of 109 burials was excavated on Rifnik. 130 Petru, Ulbert 1975, Fig. 41: Gr. 12; 43: Gr. 25. In the cemetery at Kranj-Lajh, a jar was recorded as placed in one grave – probably Grave 44 excavated by Schulz (Stare 1980, 122, Gr. 572; corrected number of the grave personally related by Kaja Pavletič). 131 Jiřik, Pinar Gil, Vávra 2019, 415, 428–433: these authors see a characteristic (post-)Chernyakhov assemblage as composed of buckles with a thickened loop, with or without belt plates, sheet-metal bow brooches, crossbow brooches, combs with a bell-shaped grip of the Thomas III type and burnished pottery. Also see Pinar Gil 2015. 132 Jiřik, Pinar Gil, Vávra 2019, 422. early type, which Timotej Knific and Marjana Tomanič-Jevremov presented in greater detail.133 They are two-piece brooches of bronze or iron that have an inverted foot. In Slovenia, they were found at Ptuj (Fig. 11: 1) and Čepna above Za- gorje (Fig. 11: 3).134 The latter site revealed two brooches, the other one being an example with a firm catch plate from the same time frame.135 The iron brooch from Ptuj was found as the only good in an inhumation burial, on the chest of a young man interred in the ruins of an abandoned Roman building.136 Ptuj also yielded two bronze brooches, but without known context data (Fig. 11: 2,4).137 The brooches of this form appeared in the Danube Basin in the 3rd and were most common in the 4th century, while in the late 4th and early 5th century they spread to central Europe;138 the evidence of this spread are also the brooches from Ptuj and Čepna. Another type of brooches that represent elements of the (post-)Chernyakhov culture and associated with foederati are bow brooches. Towards the end of the 4th century, examples with a semicircular head-plate spread from the northern Black Sea regions westwards; they were most numerously recovered at sites along the limes in the Tisa Basin and along the Middle Danube.139 In Slovenia, a small bronze brooch with a semicircular head- -plate and lozenge foot-plate decorated with series of punched dots was found at Ptuj and dates to the late 4th or early 5th century (Fig. 11: 5).140 The bow brooch from Sv. Lambert near Pristava nad Stično has a triangular head-plate with three knobs and belongs to the Bratei type (Fig. 11: 6);141 these are less numerous and spread to the Middle Danube Basin and the Balkans in the first half of the 5th century, where they remained in use to the middle of the century.142 The small foot-and-bow fragment of a brooch from Zidani gaber above Mihovo (Fig. 11: 7) may belong to the ‘classic’ sheet-metal bow brooches 133 Knific, Tomanič-Jevremov 1996. 134 Knific, Tomanič-Jevremov 1996, Figs. 3: 1; 4: 1. 135 Laharnar 2022, 95, 329–335, Pl. 16: 36–37. 136 Knific, Tomanič-Jevremov 1996, 371–373. 137 Pflaum 2000, 121–122, Pl. 32: 196,197. 138 Knific, Tomanič-Jevremov 1996, 374–375; Pflaum 2000, 121; Tica 2017, 129. 139 Knific, Tomanič-Jevremov 1996, 377, Fig. 6. 140 Knific, Tomanič-Jevremov 1996, 377. 141 Bierbrauer 1989. 142 Knific, Tomanič-Jevremov 1996, 377–378, Fig. 7; Bitenc, Knific 2008, 98–99. 216 Vesna TRATNIK, Špela KARO characteristic of the late phase of the Chernyakhov culture, though it might also be an imitation;143 the fact it is cast of brass rather suggests the latter possibility. Brooches originating in the Danube Basin came to light at four Slovenian sites (Fig. 12). Their occurrence has most frequently been attributed to the incorporation of Germanic mercenaries (foederati) in the units of the Roman army.144 One of the four sites is Ptujski grad, where a group of burials shows that a small company of foreigners, most likely of Germanic origin, lived in the late 4th and the early 5th century alongside the local population in Poetovio, a Roman city at a strategically significant crossing of the River Drava on the major road from Savaria to Celeia.145 The group consists of seven excavated graves that contained common Late Roman objects, but also two bone combs with a high grip, bone pyramidal 143 Bitenc, Knific 2008, 99. 144 Knific, Tomanič-Jevremov 1996; Bitenc, Knific 2008, 98; Ciglenečki 2006. 145 Ciglenečki 1993; Knific, Tomanič-Jevremov 1996, 376–379. pendants and a small silver buckle that shows ties with the southern and Middle Danube Basin.146 The two brooches from the hilltop settlements on Sv. Lambert and Zidani gaber are stray finds and can therefore not be more precisely interpreted, but they certainly indicate a connection with the southern Danube Basin and the foederati culture, ranking among the rare items that prove hilltop settlements were inhabited in the first half of the 5th century. The pair of such brooches from Čepna came to light in a different context; they are the typologi- cally latest items of a considerable assemblage of finds that were presumably votive offerings in a Roman sanctuary.147 For a clearer picture, we should take a look at objects from neighbouring regions that can be seen as early evidence of ‘eastern’ influences or migrations of barbarian groups of eastern origin 146 Jevremov, Tomanič-Jevremov, Ciglenečki 1993, 227–228, Pls. 1: Gr. 410/1, Gr. 416/1; 2: Gr. 415/1,3. 147 The numerous other, also prehistoric objects of the assemblage include an amphora-shaped strap-end and two bracelets from the 4th and early 5th centuries (Laharnar 2022, 93–106, 332, Fig. 4:19, Pl. 16: 36,37). Fig. 11: Brooches from the late 4th and early 5th centuries that originate from the Lower Danube Basin and were found at Slovenian sites. Sl. 11: Fibule iz spodnjega Podonavja s konca 4. in iz zgodnjega 5. st. na slovenskih najdiščih. 1, 2, 4, 5 Ptuj (Knific, Tomanič-Jevremov 1996, Fig. 3: 1; 5: 1; Pflaum 2000, Pl. 32: 196, 197), 3 Čepna above Zagorje (Knific, Tomanič-Jevremov 1996, Fig. 4: 1), 6 Sv. Lambert near Pristava nad Stično (Knific, Tomanič-Jevremov 1996, Fig. 5: 2), 7 Zidani gaber above Mihovo (Bitenc, Knific 2008, Fig. 1: 3). Scale / M. = 1 : 2. 217Ostrogoths in Slovenia? Case study of a Late Antique cemetery in Miren, western Slovenia in the early 5th century. In Italy, artefacts linked in their origin with the area of the (post-)Chernyakhov culture mainly came to light in the north-eastern part, along major roads.148 The most characteristic are the sheet-silver brooches from the first half of the 5th century; they came to light in the cemete- ries at Sacca di Goito149 and Pollenzo,150 a pair of brooches was found at Villafontana151 and another pair from a grave in Castelbolognese.152 Sacca di Goito is the westernmost site in Italy that revealed items linked with the (post-)Chernyakhov and foederati culture of the D1 to D2/D3 phases. The presence of these items has been associated with the inclusion of foederati of Germanic and other origins (for instance Alans) into the units of the Roman army and their deployment at key strate- gic points on the major roads leading to Italy.153 Zosimus reports that, after the death of Stilicho, 148 Villa 2008, 25; Buora 2010, 189. 149 Sannazaro 2006; Giostra 2011. 150 Bierbrauer 2007, 94–98, Fig. 2: 1,2. 151 Bierbrauer 2007, 99, Fig. 6: 3,4. 152 Bierbrauer 2007, 101, Fig. 5: 1,2. 153 Jiřik, Pinar Gil, Vávra 2019, 428 with further references. more than 30 000 barbarian soldiers were settled on Italian soil together with their families.154 The individual brooches from the mid-5th cen- tury that came to light in the countryside villas and settlements in Friuli have also been associated with the foederati settled here who originated in the Danube Basin.155 Several items from the cemetery in Frauenberg, Austria, that date to the late 4th and early 5th cen- tury (crossbow brooches, belt buckles) and burials with artificial cranial deformation have also been linked with barbarian immigrants from the Lower Danube Basin.156 As already noted above, archaeological rese- arch indicates that towards the end of the 4th and in the early 5th century objects associated with the (post-)Chernyakhov culture spread to the southeast (Crimean) and the north into the Middle Danube Basin, in a small measure also to more distant regions of central and western Europe. In literature, these objects are frequently described as the ‘foederati’ culture and indicate 154 According to Bierbrauer 2007, 103. 155 Villa 2006; Buora 2010, 189. 156 Steinklauber 2002, 184–188. Fig. 12: Map of the sites with Germanic finds mentioned in the text. Sl. 12: Karta v članku obravnavanih najdišč z germanskimi najdbami. 218 Vesna TRATNIK, Špela KARO that different barbarian peoples shared a common material culture that reflect the influences / origin in the (post-)Chernyakhov culture and the Roman provincial tradition.157 These objects cannot be tied to Germanic populations alone, but partly also to Alans, Huns and other barbarian groups. EAST GERMANIC ELEMENTS FROM THE LATE 5th AND OPENING DECADES OF THE 6th CENTURY IN SLOVENIA The East Germanic traces from Slovenian sites that date to the time of the Ostrogothic Kingdom in Italy are more revealing. Such objects attribu- table to the late 5th and the opening decades of the 6th century mainly came to light in cemeteries and hilltop settlements, rarely as stray finds and modest remains of (timber) dwellings in regional centres (Fig. 12). Among them are the burials at Miren dated to the late 5th and early 6th centuries on the basis of a typo-chronological analysis of the grave goods that is corroborated by the, albeit very broad, ra- diocarbon dating of the bone sample from Grave 1 (Fig. 5).158 Excavations of the relatively small cemetery thus far revealed nine burials in simple grave pits. The deceased consisted of three men and four women of different ages, as well as two children. The human bone fragments recovered from the layers above indicated that several gra- ves had already been destroyed. The grave goods belong to both the female (Fig. 13) and the male costume. The radiate-headed brooches from Grave 1 fastened the garment of the deceased woman on the upper chest (Pl. 1: Gr. 1/1,2); the same can be said of the pair of iron crossbow brooches that held the garment of the woman buried in Grave7 (Pl. 4: Gr. 7/1,2).159 The men wore items of everyday use, such as a knife, tweezers, awl and fire flint, around the waist and metal mounts indicate that some most likely carried them in purses (Pls. 2: Gr. 2,5; 3: Gr. 6). The burials of children had no grave goods. 157 Jiřik, Pinar Gil, Vávra 2019, 439; Rácz 2019. 158 2sigma 406–543 (95% probability). 159 It is a manner of fastening clothes that in Pannonia predominated in the first half and middle of the 5th cen- tury, while in the second half and towards the end of the 5th century it was more common to fasten garments with brooches in the waist area (Rácz 2016, 315–316, Fig. 10). Some peoples in Late Antiquity, including the Ostrogoths, practised artificial cranial deforma- tion.160 Two skulls with such deformations also came to light at Miren. The skull of the skeleton buried in Grave 7 was altered using circular bin- ding that made the skull very tall and narrow, while the skull of the individual from Grave 1 had frontal-occipital deformation without the use of circular binding that resulted in a short and very tall skull.161 In Slovenia, artificially deformed skulls have also been found in the cemeteries at Kranj- -Lajh, Dravlje and on the skeleton of a young man buried in Ptuj;162 the young man was buried in an abandoned Roman lime kiln and is presumed to have been of Asiatic origin.163 The Kranj-Lajh cemetery revealed five artificially deformed skulls, all belonging to women. Two of these were deformed using circular binding, others show a lower degree and/or different type of defor- mation.164 Many more artificially deformed skulls were presumed to have been found at Dravlje; the skulls of two women and six men were initially reliably identified as deformed and further five male skulls were presumably deformed.165 The recent palaeopathological analysis, however, has shown that not all of these were intentionally deformed. The sample of five included a single skull reliably identified as artificially deformed, belonging to a woman, while three showed an asymmetry that may also have been the consequence of torticollis.166 The analysis also revealed pyramidal or single-rooted molars in two skeletons, which might indicate an eastern, Asiatic origin of the deceased.167 The cemetery in Dravlje, in the north-western part of Ljubljana, is larger than the one in Miren. Altogether 49 graves have been excavated, with more than ten others destroyed during construction 160 Heinrich-Tamáska, Straub 2015, 631–634, Fig. 6: 1b; Rácz 2016, 326–327; Miházi-Pálfi 2019. 161 Leben Seljak 2018, 61–62. 162 Three other skulls, from Graves 54, 56 and 58 from the Rifnik cemetery (Bolta 1981, 14, 34) were also believed to have been deformed. However, the recent anthropological analysis of skeletal remains has revealed that the skull from Grave 56 is not artificially deformed, but rather has an extremely thinned bone tissue. The skulls from the other two graves, now missing, may have shared the same pathology, indicating the deceased were related (Leben Seljak 2006, 440). 163 Knific, Nabergoj 2017, 22, Figs. 15; 16. 164 Leben Seljak 2018, 67. 165 Pogačnik, Tomazo Ravnik 1975, 147. 166 Leskovar, Županek 2020, 479–481. 167 Leskovar, Županek 2020, 478. 219Ostrogoths in Slovenia? Case study of a Late Antique cemetery in Miren, western Slovenia work before archaeologists arrived at the site.168 The deceased were buried either directly in pits, in wooden coffins or the skeletons were lined / covered with wooden boards, two skeletons were even most likely buried in tree trunks.169 The grave goods revealed predominantly Germanic elements, primarily Ostrogothic according to Marijan Slabe.170 Women were buried with a pair of gilded silver radiate-headed bow brooches, a gilded bronze and silver belt buckle with garnet inlays and a gold strip finger ring with a round garnet-inlaid bezel in Grave 1,171 a pair of gilded silver bow brooches with a radiate (fan-shaped) head-plate in Grave 15172 and a disc brooch with glass inlays in Grave 33.173 Both pairs of brooches lay in the waist area. Grave 25 of a man revealed a rectangular belt buckle with garnet inlays.174 Most other graves held only modest goods, most frequently antler or bone combs, silver, bronze or iron buckles of different sizes, necklaces of 168 Slabe 1975, 7–10. 169 Slabe 1975, 36–37, Fig. 4. 170 Slabe 1975, 77–79. 171 Slabe 1975, 12–14, Pls. 1: 1,2,7; 2: 13; Bitenc, Knific 2001, 65–66, Cat. No. 202. 172 Slabe 1975, 16–17, Pl. 3: 4,5; Bitenc, Knific 2001, 66, Cat. No. 203. 173 Slabe 1975, 22–24, 51, 61, Pl. 10: 1–3. 174 Slabe 1975, 12–14, Pl. 7: 3; Bitenc, Knific 2001, 66, Cat. No. 203. glass and amber beads, bronze earrings with a polyhedral bead, finger rings, worn Roman coins, iron knives and strike-a-lights. Exceptional is the grave of an adult man buried with a single-edged iron sword in its scabbard, three differently sized knives and an iron strike-a-light, as weapons were only rarely placed in the graves of this time.175 The grave goods excavated at Kranj-Lajh show a cemetery used towards the end of the 5th and in the opening decades of the 6th by the local population and inhabitants of Germanic origin. Eleven of the roughly 720 graves investigated thus far176 revealed characteristic East Germanic elements. These comprise silver radiate-headed bow brooches of different types and decorations, ornate belt buckles with garnet inlays including two of the Kranj type, smaller buckles with a club-shaped tongue and coins of Ostrogothic rulers.177 The incomplete documentation of the early excavations prevents us from establishing 175 Slabe 1975, 18–19, Pl. 6; Bitenc, Knific 2001, 66, Cat. No. 204; Tica 2017, 287–288. 176 Lux, Ravnik 2008, 67–68; Knific, Lux 2015, 31. 177 Bierbrauer 1975, 90, 91, 99, 100, 104; Bitenc, Knific 2001, 63–64, Cat. Nos. 191, 192, 195, 196; Knific 2005, 331–334, Fig. 1: 1–3; Bitenc, Knific 2008, 101–103, Figs. 2: 1–4; 4: 1,2; Knific, Lux 2015, 33, Figs. 8: 1; 2; 9 top; Podobnik 2016, 66, 85–86, Pl. 8: 1,2 (Gr. 12/2004); Urek et al. 2016a, 231–233, 242, 246; Urek et al. 2016b, Pls. 82: 4; 101: 6; 114: 2 (Gr. 56/2009); 115: 1 (Gr. 57/2009); Tica 2017, 294–307. Fig. 13: Miren – Japnišče. Goods from Grave 1. Not to scale. Sl. 13: Miren – Japnišče. Predmeti iz groba 1. Ni v merilu. 220 Vesna TRATNIK, Špela KARO whether the burials with these goods are limited to a particular part of the cemetery.178 The cemetery associated with the hilltop set- tlement on Rifnik revealed rare East Germanic elements. These consist of a bronze radiate-headed bow brooch with ties to the Danube Basin, which was found in Grave 9 of a woman together with a necklace of glass and amber beads, and a pair of bronze earrings with a glass polyhedral bead.179 The brooch fastened the garment on the shoulder and was worn singly. Another potential Germanic item is the iron oval buckle with a club-shaped tongue, found in the waist area of the man buried in Grave 21; placed under his head were items of everyday use that were probably kept in a purse.180 The settlement on Rifnik also yielded a coin of Theodoric minted in 518–526.181 Fragments of radiate-headed bow brooches and belt plates, including one belonging to a Kranj type belt plate came to light in the fort on Gradec near Velika Strmica.182 Also found here was a large gilded silver radiate-headed bow brooch with five knobs and chip-carved decoration that forms part of the jewellery of the Karavukovo group and is slightly earlier, dated to the second half of the 5th century; such brooches have been linked with the Danube Basin whence Goths presumably brought them on their way to Italy.183 The small cast and gilded radiate-headed bow brooch with three knobs and chip-carved decora- tion from Sv. Lambert184 also has parallels in the Danube Basin dated to the second third and second half of the 5th century.185 Other objects found at this hilltop site with parallels in the Germanic items from the time of the Ostrogothic Kingdom in Italy include fragments of two bow brooches and a belt buckle.186 178 For the plan of the cemetery, see Lux, Ravnik 2008. 179 Bolta 1981, 31, Pl. 2: 7–10; Bitenc, Knific 2001, 68–69, Cat. No. 214. 180 Bolta 1981, 31–32, Pl. 4: 6–14; Tica 2017, 329. 181 Demo 1994, 16, 186, No. 116; FMRSl II, 367/1–78. 182 Klasinc 1999, 82, Pls. 1: 1–3,5; 2: 18; Bitenc, Knific 2001, 67–68, Cat. Nos. 209 and 210; Knific 2005, 332–334, Fig. 3: 1; Ciglenečki 2006, Fig. 7; Bitenc, Knific 2008, 99–103, Figs. 1: 4; 2: 7,8; 4: 3. 183 Klasinc 1999, 37; Knific 2005, 332; Bitenc, Knific 2008, 99, Fig. 1: 4. 184 Bitenc, Knific 2001, 68, Cat. No. 213; Ciglenečki 2006, Fig. 12: 2. 185 Tejral 1997, 349. 186 Bitenc, Knific 2001, 68, Cat. No. 213; Bitenc, Knific 2008, Figs. 2: 6; 4: 4. Finds from Zidani gaber above Mihovo include fragments of bow brooches, the loop and tongue fragments of belt buckles, a gold mount with gar- net inlays and a fragment of a silver strainer.187 A fragment of a gilded silver bow brooch comes from Puštal above Trnje near Škofja Loka.188 Fifteen sites, most of them hilltop settlements, revealed more than thirty, mainly silver coins, minted in the name of Ostrogothic rulers.189 Some sites yielded a single coin, others several examples. At Puštal, one coin of Theodoric minted between 518 and 526 was found in the northern part of the settlement and five coins were found together in the south-eastern part. The five coins were minted in the final years of Ostrogothic rule and were probably kept in a purse or as a hoard.190 Very well-preserved are also the four coins from Zidani gaber, one minted between 491 and 518, three in the first third of the 6th century.191 Five coins were unearthed in the vicinity of the entrance to the settlement on Tonovcov grad near Kobarid. They were minted in the name of Theodoric and his successor Athalaric, and their good condition indicates a short-term use.192 Researchers ascribe the Germanic finds from hilltop sites to small garrisons stationed under the Ostrogothic rule in settlements and forts that protected the corridors and communications.193 Rifnik, for example, is a dominant elevation visible from great distances that controlled one of the routes leading from Pannonia to Emona. Another example is Puštal, which controlled the passage into the Selca Valley, at the entrance to the Poljane Valley it also controlled the routes leading to the 187 Bitenc, Knific 2001, 33, 68–69, Cat. Nos. 88 and 215; Bitenc, Knific 2008, 100–103, Figs. 1: 3; 2: 9–13; 4: 5, 6; Tratnik 2020, 79, 82–83, Pls. 8: 72,73; 9: 82; 10: 99. 188 Bitenc, Knific 2001, 68, Cat. No. 212; Bitenc, Knific 2008, Fig. 2: 5; Knific, Lux 2015, 36–37, Fig. 12. 189 Ajdna above Potoki, Gradec near Prapretno, Gradec near Velika Strmica, Korinjski hrib above Veliki Korinj, Kranj (cemeteries at Lajh and Križišče Iskra, settlement), Predjama, Puštal above Trnje pri Škofji Loki, Rifnik near Šentjur, Sv. Lambert near Pristava nad Stično, Šmarna gora near Ljubljana, Tonovcov grad near Kobarid, Vipota above Pečovnik, Zidani gaber above Mihovo (Demo 1994, 183; Kos 2000, 113, Map 3; Bitenc, Knific 2001, 64–65, Cat. Nos. 194–201; Bratož 2014, 411–412; Knific, Lux 2015, 33, 37–38, Fig. 8; 12). 190 Knific, Lux 2015, 37, Figs. 8: 4; 12; 13. 191 Tratnik 2020, 127, 222, Nos. 154–157. 192 Kos 2011, 226, 237, Nos. 158–162; Ciglenečki 2020, 213. 193 Ciglenečki 2006, 113–117; Ciglenečki 2020, 213. 221Ostrogoths in Slovenia? Case study of a Late Antique cemetery in Miren, western Slovenia Cerkljansko area and further on to Friuli.194 To- novcov grad hosted a settlement with a naturally protected and strategic location at the doorstep of Italy, and a Gothic garrison there would guard the route from the upper Soča Valley to Friuli.195 Records of such posts can be found in ancient texts, for example Procopius, who mentions Cotian Alps where Goths of higher classes lived together with their wives and children, guarding the border.196 The role of the settlements on Zidani gaber, Sv. Lambert and Gradec near Velika Strmica is less clear. Within the Ostrogothic Kingdom, these settlements formed part of the Savia province.197 They were established in safe and slightly remote locations that did not offer an optimal visual control of the main communications in use in the Roman period (road connecting Siscia and Emona). This would lead to two conclusions: either other (al- ternative) routes became strategically significant in Late Antiquity198 or these settlements played a different role, possibly of small local centres of administration or of settlements enjoying great regional importance.199 The former urban centres yielded few traces from the Ostrogothic period. In the late 4th and early 5th centuries, Emona changed in appearance; its city walls were reinforced in certain places, some of the entrances were walled and the south defensive ditch was cleaned, while a large part of the sewage system was no longer maintained. The temple in the forum is believed to have been torn down at this time and several large public buil- dings, as well as buildings intended for Christian religious rituals constructed.200 Modest traces of barbarian presence in the city have been recorded in individual burials in the northern cemetery of Emona and in the garden of the Narodni muzej Slovenije.201 There is only scarce evidence of life in the city after the middle of the 5th century. The investigations that Walter Schmid conducted in 1910 in Insula VII, in the southwest part of the city, unearthed the foot of a bow brooch.202 The closest parallel is a pair of bow brooches from the 194 Ciglenečki 2015, 416, 419; Knific, Lux 2015, 38. 195 Ciglenečki 2011, 287. 196 Bierbrauer 2015, 296. 197 Bratož 2014, 375. 198 Ciglenečki 2015, 415. 199 Tratnik 2020, 156. 200 Županek 2021, 30–34. 201 Vuga 1985; Knific, Tomanič-Jevremov 1996, 380–386. 202 Bitenc, Knific 2001, 68, Cat. No. 211; Bitenc, Knific 2008, Fig. 2: 14. cemetery in Dravlje.203 The layers of Emona, in Insula XV in the area of Jakopičev vrt, reportedly yielded a kidney-shaped belt buckle made in the cloisonné technique, dating to the late 5th and the opening decades of the 6th century.204 The situation was different in Kranj, Late An- tique Carnium located at the river confluence of the Sava and the Kokra, with clear habitation remains from the 5th and 6th centuries. In addition to the already discussed goods from the Kranj- -Lajh cemetery, Ostrogothic evidence also came to light in the settlement, in the form of a bow brooch fragment and a silver coin of Theodoric.205 Recent investigations in the city centre of Kranj have brought to light the remains of timber houses and pottery characteristic of Germanic (primarily Langobard) populations, as well as two coins of Theodoric (minted before 522) and Athalaric (ruled between 527 and 534), respectively.206 It should be noted that the (East) Germanic elements recovered at Slovenian sites are not ne- cessarily evidence of the presence or settlement of members of foreign ethnic groups on the territory of Slovenia; an alternative interpretation is that they are merely traces of the exchange of goods and trading connections with areas of their origin, i.e. the Danube Basin or the Ostrogothic Kingdom in Italy.207 CEMETERIES WITH EAST GERMANIC ELEMENTS IN NEIGHBOURING AREAS Historical sources reveal that after 473, when the Ostrogoths finally left Pannonia, several groups joined the journey to Italy under their lead. The largest among them was the group led by Theodo- ric, starting towards Italy in 488 on the behest of the Eastern Roman Emperor Zeno with the aim of overthrowing Odoacer and conquering Italy. Together with the associated groups of different peoples that comprised men, women and children, the Goths set out from the southern Danube Basin towards Italy, initially following the Roman roads 203 Slabe 1975, 58–59, Pl. 1: 1,2. 204 The Mestni muzej Ljubljana bought the buckle in an antiquities shop, hence the findspot and origin data are not reliable; Slabe 1978. 205 Sagadin 2008, 142, Figs. 29; 30; Knific, Lux 2015, 31. 206 Urankar, Bešter 2014, 26–28, 37–39, 42; Knific, Lux 2015, 31, Fig. 4c, Notes 11 and 12; Tica 2017, 293. 207 Cf. e.g. Barbiera 2010, 124–128. 222 Vesna TRATNIK, Špela KARO along the Danube and later on probably along the River Drava. They spent the winter on Gepid territory in the area of Sirmium and continued their journey in the late spring of 489.208 They are presumed to have crossed Slovenian territory in the direction from Poetovio westwards to Celeia and Emona, through the Vipava Valley and on to Italy. No literary sources report on the number of Ostrogoths on this journey, hence the scholarly estimates vary greatly; the multitude of warriors together with their families is estimated to have numbered from 40 000 to around 100 000 persons. Odoacer, who set up camp at the crossing of the River Soča/Isonzo, was defeated in a battle that took place on 28 August 489, leaving Theodoric unimpeded passage to Italy. The Ostrogoths crossing the River Soča/Isonzo is also symbolically signifi- cant and marks the beginning of their state in Italy that existed just over four decades and spanned the whole of Italy with Sicily, southern Gaul, both Rhaetiae and western Illyricum.209 The cemeteries in Miren, Dravlje and Kranj are located at the eastern fringes of Ostrogothic Italy. In interpreting the Miren cemetery, we may thus examine the evidence from several comparable and better-investigated sites in Austria (Globasnitz/ Globasnica) and northern Italy, including Frascaro, Collegno and Tortona. North of Slovenia, burials associated with a Germanic population came to light in Globasnitz/ Gobasnica. This cemetery belongs to a settlement next to the Roman roadside station of Iuenna, at the foot of the hill of Hemmaberg. Two cemeteries have been investigated here; the western one used in the Early and Middle Imperial periods, while the eastern one revealed several elements, such as artificial cranial deformation and artefacts, that suggest Germanic individuals buried alongside the Roman population. Franz Glaser believes the- se to be Ostrogothic elements most prominently observable in the military outfit. Grave 11, for example, presumably held an army officer buried without weapons in accordance with the funerary customs, but with goods including a richly decora- ted belt with a substantial iron buckle with inlaid decoration and mounts decorated with glass inlays and bird-head terminals that show the deceased’s high status. The young man with an artificially deformed head from Grave 15 is also believed to have been a soldier. The identification of several 208 Gračanin, Škrgulja 2014, 178–181. 209 Bratož 2014, 372−375. deceased as soldiers is supported by the injuries on their skeletal remains such as fractures and blows sustained from weapons.210 The presence of soldiers has been ascribed to the activity of the roadside station of key importance for controlling the road leading from Virunum to Celeia.211 The subsequent investigations of the cemetery, which thus far revealed some 500 burials and one or possibly even two churches, and a reassessment of the grave goods have led Paul Gleirscher to see no evidence of the eastern cemetery only being in use at the time when the territory formed part of the Ostrogothic state (493–536/537), and no evidence that the man buried in Grave 11 and other soldiers were Goths.212 Gleirscher’s scepticism seems at least partially justified as new research and interpretati- ons increasingly show that the artefacts cannot be associated with one particular ethnic group, while the size of the cemetery in Globasnitz suggests that it was used over a long period of time and primarily by the local inhabitants. At Frascaro in northern Italy, a small settlement was investigated in the vicinity of a former road that was inhabited from the late 5th to the middle or third quarter of the 6th century. It revealed three rectangular buildings of timber and branches, as well as a water well, while the deceased were bu- ried some 100 metres away from the settlement.213 Twenty-seven burials have been investigated. Burials were found in groups, most likely reflecting family ties, with men, women and children buried either directly into a grave pit or in tree trunks. The fe- male costume appears fairly uniform, comprising earrings, a necklace of glass beads, gilded silver bow brooches worn singly or in pairs on the shoulder or at the waist, belt buckles, large glass and amber beads, as well as bronze rings suspended from a belt. Buried without weapons, men had an iron knife and a belt fastened with a buckle, two also had a coin. Two graves of children and one of an adult individual held a small vessel presumed to have contained provisions for the afterlife. Arti- ficial skull deformation was established on two skeletons. The cemetery and the settlement have been ascribed to East Germanic immigrants who presumably lived separately from the local com- munity, in the area of a former countryside villa 210 Glaser 2006, 94–98, Figs. 7–10. 211 Glaser 2006, 102. 212 Gleirscher 2021, 39–42.z 213 Micheletto 2003, 698–704; Micheletto, Giostra, Bedini 2019, 367, Fig. 1. 223Ostrogoths in Slovenia? Case study of a Late Antique cemetery in Miren, western Slovenia and near the road they were presumably tasked to control.214 The contemporary settlement with the asso- ciated cemetery at Collegno was constructed on a river terrace also near a major road, which led from Augusta Taurinorum (Torino) towards the Alpine valley of Susa and Gaul; the road crossed the River Dora in the vicinity of the settlement. The small family burial grounds revealed eight burials of men, women and children distributed around the central Grave 4, which had a deep pit with a lining of cobbles and other stones and held the skeleton of an elderly man, presumably the head of the family. Two of his belt buckles survived, one of them of gilded brass. The anthro- pological analysis has revealed skeletal indicators of physical stress that point to the man being a rider, but also that he had an artificially deformed skull. The latter was also established for the adult individual in Grave 5. Pieces of costume came to light in Graves 3 and 6 of women and comprise necklaces of glass and amber beads, bow brooches, a pigeon-shaped brooch, an ornate belt buckle with its plate, bronze belt buckles, as well as large glass and amber beads hanging from the belt. One of the graves of men also held a bone comb. Several graves had no goods. The cemetery has been in- terpreted as the burial grounds of the members of East Germanic, probably Gothic upper class who lived in the settlement only several metres away, in houses built of clay-bonded masonry and timber, and who used the strategic location of the settlement to control nearby areas.215 The city of Tortona enjoyed a strategic location at the River Scrivia and the via Postumia that con- nected the Adriatic with Liguria and had already developed in the Roman period. It decreased in size in Late Antiquity and was not enclosed with city walls. In its hinterland was a stronghold, which might be the one that Theodoric had in mind in his letter ‘to all the Gothic and Roman inhabitants of Dertona (Tortona)’ dated to the beginning of the 6th century, commanding that the ‘camp near you shall at once be fortified’ and ‘good private houses’ built (Cassiodorus I, 17). Caterina Gio- stra presumes that the city folk retreated to this stronghold in times of danger.216 214 Bierbrauer 2007, 106–113; Micheletto, Giostra, Bedini 2019, 370–372. 215 Pejrani Baricco et al. 2019, 373–378, Figs. 1; 3–6. 216 Giostra 2007, 285; Crosetto 2018, 177. The city in Late Antiquity witnessed the for- mation of small habitation areas with timber buildings, a church and a cemetery.217 Traces of timber buildings with several items associated with the Ostrogoths have come to light at the main road in the north part of the city, interpreted as the living space of a small community complete with its burial grounds.218 At the south-western outskirts of the city, at the road leading into the river harbour still active in the 6th century, archaeologists investigated four burials, while a fifth one, presumably of a child, had already been largely destroyed. The graves of women reveal their costume, which included pairs of radiate- -headed bow brooches fastening the garment on the upper part of the chest; in addition to these, Grave 3 also held a bone comb, as well as large glass beads and an iron buckle in the waist area. The grave of a child contained a buckle of rock crystal with a gold tongue, three gold drop-shaped appliques, a small gold buckle with its plate and an iron blade. The grave goods suggest this was a family burial grounds with Ostrogothic elements that was only used for a short time. Following the period of the Ostrogothic rule, the city was inhabited by the Langobards.219 In the time of the Ostrogothic Kingdom in Italy, the area of Miren mainly gravitated towards Aquileia and the Friuli region. In Aquileia, the pre- sence of a Gothic population can only be surmised from individual artefacts that formed part of the female costume.220 In Friuli and Trentino-Alto Adige/South Tyrol, artefacts associated with the Ostrogoths mainly came to light along important routes, for example in the Planis cemetery at the edge of Udine/Videm221 and in Trento.222 CONCLUSION How can we understand the cemetery in Miren and the Germanic elements in its graves? The above-discussed cemeteries from Italy (Frascaro, Collegno, Tortona), Austria (Globasnitz) and Slovenia (Dravlje, Kranj) show a commonality in that they all lie in the lowland and along major 217 Giostra 2007, 285. 218 Giostra 2007; Crosetto 2018, 186–187. 219 Crosetto 2018, 191–194, Figs. 18–22. 220 Buora 2010, 188; Bierbrauer 1975, 102. 221 Buora 2008, 87–88; Buora 2010, 189. 222 Cavada 1994, 224–231. 224 Vesna TRATNIK, Špela KARO land or river routes or junctions. Most are small, presumably family burial grounds located next to a settlement; only the graves with East Germanic elements at the Kranj-Lajh cemetery formed part of a larger, multi-ethnic cemetery associated with a regional centre of Carnium, the inhabitants of which used the burial grounds over long periods of time. Considering the chronological attribution of the grave goods and the known historic events, the Miren cemetery was mostly likely in use in the time of the Ostrogothic Kingdom in Italy, which spanned the last decade of the 5th and the early 6th century. We presume that it was the burial grounds of an East Germanic community associated with the group led by Theodoric, i.e. the Ostrogoths mentioned in ancient texts. The analysis of the ancient DNA may reveal whether the deceased interred at Miren were also related to each other.223 The settlement associated with the cemetery in Miren has as yet not been identified. One pos- sible location might be on the nearby elevation now hosting Miren Castle (Fig. 2). Parallels from Italy point to another possibility, namely that the settlement stood in immediate proximity to the 223 The cemetery in Miren is included in the Histo- Genes international research project. Tina Milavec from the Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, is project coordinator for Slovenia (Pohl et al. 2021). cemetery. Its inhabitants may be sought among the newcomers, to whom Theodoric granted farming land within his kingdom following the victory over Odoacer.224 The settlement may al- so have been a small one of a temporary nature that hosted one of the groups of newcomers who headed for Italy under Theodoric’s lead in 489. 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Raziskave grobišča iz obdobja pozne antike v Mirnu, zahodna Slovenija Grobišče iz poznoantičnega obdobja leži na južni strani Mirna v zaselku Japnišče, na levem bregu reke Vipave (sl. 1; 2). Mimo Mirna je peljala trasa ceste Akvileja–Emona,1 ob njej so odkrili sledi rimskodobne naselbine2 in grobove.3 Leta 2009 so na Japnišču odkrili prva dva skeletna grobova in sledi poselitve ter jih preliminarno datirali v rimsko ali zgodnjesrednjeveško obdobje.4 V letu 2011 je bil raziskan del grobišča (sl. 3), na njem so izkopali 7 grobov,5 dve leti pozneje pa še en otroški grob.6 Rezultati raziskav v letih 2009 in 2011 so bili skupaj z antropološko in ar- heozoološko analizo ter izsledki preiskav izbranih kovinskih predmetov objavljeni v monografiji Miren – grobišče iz obdobja preseljevanja ljudstev.7 Prostorska vrzel, ki se kaže med grobovi, odkritimi v letih 2009, 2011 in 2013, je najverjetneje posle- dica obsega raziskav. Na parceli, ki leži približno 30 m severno od odkritega grobišča, so arheologi odkrili še 12 vkopov, v njih so bile poleg kosov 1 Rutar 1899, 28; Cuntz 1902, 154; Puschi 1903; Bosio 1991, 206–207; Sticotti 1951, št. 380. 2 Žbona Trkman 1981; Žbona Trkman 1985; Bratina 2001; Bratina 2009; Fabec, Tratnik 2010. 3 Rutar 1899, 28. 4 Fabec 2018, 11–14. 5 Odkrili smo tudi posamezne sledi iz rimske dobe in novega veka; podrobno v Tratnik 2018b. 6 Turk, Rupnik 2013. 7 Tratnik, Karo 2018. rimskodobne opeke tudi posamezne človeške kosti, domnevno iz uničenih ali izpraznjenih grobov. Grobovi bi bili lahko rimskodobni ali pa gre za del že prej raziskanega grobišča iz 5. in 6. st.8 POZNOANTIČNO GROBIŠČE Med letoma 2009 in 2013 je bilo skupaj izkopanih devet grobov oz. njihovih ostankov. Razporejeni so bili posamično, ne v vrsti, usmerjeni so bili tako, da so imeli pokojniki glavo na zahodni strani, z manjšimi odkloni (sl. 3). Grobne jame so bile preproste, vkopane v prod v globini 0,1–0,6 m, ostankov kamnitih oblog ali krst nismo opazili. Grobovi se niso prekrivali, zato domnevamo, da so bili v času uporabe grobišča na površini označeni in zamejeni. Ob grobu 1 so bili v linijo postavljeni trije okrogli vkopi (sl. 3), razlagamo jih kot jame, morda ostanek (grobne) strukture, njena funkcija in datacija nista jasni.9 Tudi v zasutjih grobnih jam so bili manjši odlomki rimskodobne lončenine, stekla in gradbenega materiala ter živalskih kosti, umestimo jih lahko v čas od 1. do 4. st. Ti odlomki so ležali razpršeno, brez opaznih zgostitev, lahko tudi pod skeleti.10 8 Brezigar, Rupnik 2017. 9 Tratnik, Karo 2018, 34–36. 10 Tratnik, Karo 2018, 25–34. Vzhodni Goti v Sloveniji? Raziskave grobišča iz obdobja pozne antike v Mirnu, zahodna Slovenija Povzetek KATALOG GROBOV IN NAJDB Katalog je izdelan na podlagi dokumentacije in analiz. Skelete je preučila antropologinja Petra Leben Seljak,11 njihovi osnovni podatki so v opisih grobov. Na izbranih kovinskih predmetih je Eva Menart (Narodni muzej Slovenije) izvedla XRF-analizo. Poimenovanje srebro uporabljamo za zlitino, v kateri prevladuje delež srebra (Ag), prisotni pa so še drugi elementi (npr. Cu, Sn, Pb) v različnih manjših deležih. Poimenovanje bron uporabljamo za zlitino z večinskim deležem bakra (Cu) in kositra (Sn), v manjšem deležu so lahko prisotni še drugi elementi, npr. svinec (Pb). Za risbe in oblikovanje tabel je poskrbela Ida Murgelj (Narodni muzej Slovenije). Avtorica risb predmetov (t. 1: 11,12; t. 4: 10,11) v svinčniku je Teja Gerbec (Goriški muzej). Izris tlorisov grobov (M. = 1:20) je delo Mance Vinazza (Oddelek za arheologijo, Filozofska fakulteta Univerze v Ljubljani), Mihe Miheliča in Nives Zupančič (Zavod za varstvo kulturne dediščine Slovenije, Center za preventivno arheologijo). Gradivo je konserviral in ga trajno hrani Goriški muzej.12 11 Leben Seljak 2018. 12 Za dostop do gradiva se najlepše zahvaljujeva kustosinji Ani Kruh. 230 Vesna TRATNIK, Špela KARO srebrne pločevine s pritrjenim bronastim obročkom (t. 2: 2). Ob stopalu je bil odlomek bronastega predmeta z obročkom, morda pinceta (t. 2: 3), ob desnem komolcu železen nož (t. 2: 4) in kresilni kamen (t. 2: 5). Grob 6 (t. 3; sl. 3, 4) V grobu je bil pokopan moški, star 50–60 let (maturus II), visok 157 cm. Ob levem boku sta ležali večja in manjša železna pasna spona (t. 3: 1,2), obe z ohranjenimi ostanki tkanine. Ob desnem boku v višini pasu je bil najden skupek železnih predmetov: okov torbice (t. 3: 3), šilo (t. 3: 4), rezilo noža (t. 3: 5), železen nož z delno ohranjenim ročajem (t. 3: 6), nekaj neprepoznavnih železnih predmetov (t. 3: 7–8) in kresilni kamen (t. 3: 9). Ob levi nogi je bil manjši lonec (t. 3: 10), zapolnjen z zemljo in prodom. Grob 7 (t. 4; sl. 3, 4) V grobu je bila pokopana mlada ženska, stara 22 let (adultus I), visoka 155 cm. V frontalno-okcipitalni smeri je imela namensko preoblikovano lobanjo. Na pokojničinih prsih sta bili železni samostrelni fibuli (t. 4: 1,2). V višini ledvenih vretenc na desni strani so bile tri steklene (t. 4: 5,7,8) in ena jantarna jagoda (t. 4: 6). Desno nad medenično kostjo je bila železna pasna spona (t. 4: 3), ob desni nogi pa steklen kozarec (t. 4: 4). V zasutju groba so bili steklena (t. 4: 9) in jantarna (t. 4: 10) jagoda, železen žebljiček (t. 4: 11) in del uteži za vreteno (t. 4: 12). Grob 2013 (sl. 3) Otroški grob. Otrok je bil star 5–6 let. Ležal je na hrbtu, v iztegnjeni legi. Pridatkov ni imel.14 TIPOLOŠKA IN KRONOLOŠKA ANALIZA PREDMETOV Fibule Fibuli iz groba 1 (t. 1: 1,2; sl. 6) tipološko sodita v skupino ločnih fibul z okrasom spiral na pol- krožni glavi in z nogo rombične oblike.15 Herbert Kuhn je take združil v veliko skupino fibul tipa Gurzuf.16 Dieter Quast jih je zbral v bolj enotno skupino, poimenovano tip Szentes-Trento (nem. Trient).17 Oba jih datirata v drugo polovico 5. in prvo polovico 6. st.18 Quast jih je naprej razdelil na razvojno starejše fibule (dolžina največkrat 5–6 cm), s širokim lokom in jasno izdelanim zaključkom noge v obliki živalske glavice, ter na mlajše, za katere so značilni natančneje izdelan okras na glavi in nogi ter drugačni proporci. 14 Turk, Rupnik 2013, 5–6, 9, 12, sl. 3–5. 15 Bierbrauer 1975, 108−114; Bierbrauer 2010, 67. 16 Kühn 1974, 728–742. 17 Quast 2002, 589–590. 18 Bierbrauer 1975, 104–106. Grobova 2009 Grob 1/2009 = Grob 2/2011 (sl. 3; 4) Grob odrasle osebe. V celoti je bil izkopan leta 2011, označen kot grob 2. Grob 2/2009 (sl. 3; 4) Otroški grob. Iz pobranih vzorcev kosti je antropologinja določila starost otroka, in sicer 1–2 leti. Ležal je na hrbtu, v iztegnjeni legi. Pridatkov ni imel.13 Grobovi 2011 Grob 1 (t. 1: Gr. 1; sl. 3,4,13) V grobu je bila pokopana ženska (adultus I), stara okrog 30 let, visoka 150 cm. V frontalno-okcipitalni smeri je imela namensko preoblikovano lobanjo. Radiokarbonska analiza vzorca kosti je pokazala rezultat s širokim razponom od začetka 5. do sredine 6. st. (sl. 5). Na prsih je imela pokojnica pozlačeni srebrni ločni fibuli (t. 1: 1–2), v spodnjem delu prsnega koša jantarni jagodi (t. 1: 8–9), nad medenico srebrno pasno spono (t. 1: 3) in ob njej manjši svinčen obroček (t. 1: 4). Ob desni roki je bilo koščeno vretence (t. 1: 10), ob levi pa neprepoznaven odlomek železa (t. 1: 6). Podoben železen predmet je ležal tudi ob levi golenici (t. 1: 7). Ob stopalih sta bila odlom- ka tanke srebrne pločevine (t. 1: 5). V zasutju groba, tik nad skeletom, sta bila srebrn žebljiček (t. 1: 11) in manjši bronast kaveljček (t. 1: 12). Grob 2 (t. 2: Gr. 2; sl. 3, 4) V grobu je bil pokopan mlad moški (adultus I), star okrog 25 let, visok 163 cm. Nad desno medenično kostjo je ležala srebrna pasna spona (t. 2: 1), nad levo pa skupek več predmetov: železen nož z lesenim ročajem (t. 2: 6), kresilni kamen (t. 2: 7), manjša bronasta pasna spona z okovom (t. 2: 4), bronasta pinceta (t. 2: 3), odlomek železnega predmeta (t. 2: 5) in nekaj ne- prepoznavnih železnih odlomkov. Ob levem stopalu je bil predmet iz upognjene srebrne pločevine (t. 2: 2), v zasutju groba pa še majhen srebrn žebljiček (t. 2: 8). Grob 3 (t. 1: Gr. 3; sl. 3) V grobu je bila pokopana mlada ženska (spol ni zanesljivo določljiv, adultus I), stara okrog 25 let, visoka 157 cm. Grob in skelet sta bila poškodovana, pridanih predmetov nismo našli. Grob 4 (t. 1: Gr. 4; sl. 3) V grobu je bila pokopana odrasla ženska, stara nad 18 let, visoka 158 cm. Grob in skelet sta bila močno poškodovana, ohranjen je bil le spodnji del nog, pridanih predmetov nismo našli. Grob 5 (t. 2: Gr. 5; sl. 3, 4) V grobu je bil pokopan moški, star 50–65 let (maturus II–senilis), visok 166–168 cm. Nad levo medenično kostjo je bila srebrna pasna spona z ohranjenimi ostanki tkanine (t. 2: 1). Ob levi goleni sta bila večja kosa okova iz tanke 13 Fabec 2018, 11–14, sl. 11. 231Vzhodni Goti v Sloveniji? Raziskave grobišča iz obdobja pozne antike v Mirnu, zahodna Slovenija Glava in noga sta pri mlajših pogosto obrobljeni z vzorcem trikotnikov, zapolnjenih z niellom.19 Izvor velikih ločnih fibul z roglji na glavi razi- skovalci20 domnevajo v Podonavju v drugi polovici 5. st., na območjih, ki so jih poseljevala germanska plemena. V Panoniji grobove, v katerih so uliti predmeti, okrašeni s klinastim vrezom, kamor sodijo tudi ločne fibule z roglji, datirajo v fazo D3, tj. v dru- go polovico 5. st.21 V tem času se je v Podonavju oblikovala značilna ženska noša, ki jo je Jaroslav Tejral poimenoval “donauländisch-ostgermanischer Kulturkomplex”,22 Volker Bierbrauer jo je označil kot “ostgermanische Koiné”,23 Michel Kazanski pa uporablja bolj splošno poimenovanje, brez etnične oznake, in sicer »mode danubienne«.24 V Podonav- ju se v 5. st., še posebej v grobovih pripadnikov višjega sloja, odražajo podobnosti, ki ne dopuščajo ožjih etničnih opredelitev.25 Fibuli iz Mirna glede na detajlno izdelan okras, obrobo trikotnikov, zapolnjenih z niellom, in nekoliko podaljšano nogo uvrščamo v mlajšo skupino fibul tipa Szentes-Trento po razdelitvi D. Quasta ter ju datiramo v konec (drugo polovico) 5. in prvo polovico 6. st. Oblika, razširjenost in način noše v grobu 1 iz Mirna nakazujejo po- vezavo po eni strani s Podonavjem in po drugi strani s severno Italijo v času vzhodnogotskega kraljestva. Izrazite podobnosti v obliki, okrasu, sestavi osnovne zlitine, izdelavi pozlate in niella govorijo za tesno povezavo med fibulama, mo- rebiti za izdelavo v isti zlatarski delavnici. Tako razmišljanje podkrepi lega v istem grobu, kjer sta bili uporabljeni kot par (komplet). Okrasni kamen granat je ohranjen le na eni fibuli (t. 1: Gr. 1/2; sl. 6) in spada med almandine tipa I;26 taki najverjetneje izvirajo iz Indije.27 Ostanki vlaken, ohranjeni na igli fibule (t. 1: Gr. 1/1), kažejo, da je bila pokojnica oblečena v laneno oblačilo. 19 Quast 2002, 589–593, t. 4. 20 Popović, Kazanski, Ivanišević 2017, 267–268; citat se navezuje na skupino velikih ulitih ločnih fibul z roglji, različnih podtipov. 21 Heinrich-Tamáska, Straub 2015, 634: članek se nanaša na prostor Pannonia Prima in Valeria, avtorja sta opisane grobove združila v Tip 5. 22 Tejral 2012, 117–126. 23 Bierbrauer 2011, 375–376. 24 Kazanski 1989. 25 Bierbrauer 2011, 375–376; Heinrich-Tamáska, Straub 2015, 634; Rácz 2019, 780–789. 26 Kramar, Kavkler, Dolenec 2018, 55. 27 Mathis et al. 2008; Šmit et al. 2014. Železni fibuli iz groba 7 (t. 4: 1,2) spadata med samostrelne fibule s trdnim nosilcem igle. Fibula (t. 4: 2) sodi k tipu Viminacium,28 datiranemu v čas med drugo tretjino 5. in začetkom 6. st.29 Fi- bule tega tipa so pogoste predvsem na Balkanu, v kastelih in na grobiščih vzdolž donavskega limesa, posamične so našli severno od Donave.30 Mirenska fibula je najzahodneje najdeni primerek. Druga fibula (t. 4: 1) ima kratek lok in dolgo nogo, zato sodi k fibulam pozne sheme s konca 5. in začetka 6. st.31 Verjetno je tipa Invillino, ki je pogostejši na jugovzhodnoalpskem prostoru, nekaj primerkov je tudi na zahodnem Balkanu.32 Konteksti, v katerih se pojavljajo samostrelne fibule s trdnim nosilcem igle, nakazujejo, da so jih verjetno nosili tako Germani kot Romani.33 Pasne garniture Tri masivne srebrne spone (t. 1: Gr. 1/3; 2: Gr. 2/1, Gr. 5/1) so spenjale jermen pasu. Take spone so bile v 5. in 6. st. široko razširjene, posebno pogoste so na najdiščih v Podonavju, ki jih pri- pisujejo Germanom,34 znane so na Balkanu in v vzhodnem Sredozemlju.35 Srebrna žebljička oz. pasni zakovici v obliki žebljička z ravno okroglo glavo (t. 1: Gr. 1/11; 2: Gr. 2/8) imata primerjave v grobovih iz 6. st. v Iliriku, kjer se ti pojavljajo skupaj s srebrnimi ovalnimi sponami z ravnim trnom in sponami s ščitasto bazo trna.36 V grobu 6 so bile tri železne spone (t. 3: 1–3). Večja je verjetno spenjala pas, manjša jermen s torbico, okov s spono pa je del torbice. Na sponi 28 Schulze-Dörrlamm 1986, 605–608, sl. 11; Milavec 2009, 240. 29 Milavec 2009, 224–225. 30 Schulze-Dörrlamm 1986, 606; Ivanišević, Kazanski, Mastykova 2006, 17, sl. 8: 13–16; Milavec 2009, 240. 31 Schulze-Dörrlamm 1986, 642–643. 32 Milavec 2011a, 26–27, sl. 2: 1. 33 Schulze-Dörrlamm 1986, 593, op. 2 in 5, 694; Bierbrauer 2015, 203−208, 291−294; Milavec 2009. 34 Najdišča Csongrád-Kettöshalom, Kiszombor in Szolnok-Szanda (podrobno navajajo Ivanišević, Kazanski, Mastykova 2006, 22) ter najdišča Szentes-Kökényzug, Szentes-Nagyhegy, Szentes-Berekhát (Csallány 1961, t. XII:1; XXXV: 3; LXIX: 7; LXXVIII: 10), ki jih tradicionalno pripisujejo Gepidom. 35 Najdišča Singidunum, Viminacium, Knin, Prahovo: Ivanišević, Kazanski, Mastykova 2006, 22 (s podrobnimi citati za posamezna najdišča). 36 Ivanišević, Kazanski, Mastykova 2006, 26, t. 24: 38/7; 144: 144/4. 232 Vesna TRATNIK, Špela KARO (t. 2: Gr. 5/1, sl. 7) in na obeh železnih sponah (t. 3: Gr. 6/1,2) so ohranjeni ostanki tkanine.37 Spone in okovi torbic Železen okov iz groba 6 (t. 3: 3) tipološko sodi med okove torbic z ravnim osrednjim delom in zankastima zaključkoma.38 Podobni okovi so da- tirani v čas med letoma 450 in 525 oziroma med letoma 530 in 555.39 Torbice s takimi okovi so bile pogoste pri Frankih in Alemanih,40 manj jih je na Balkanu,41 v Panoniji42 in na Krimu.43 Majhna bronasta pasna spona z okovom (t. 2: Gr. 2/4; sl. 8) sodi v skupino mediteranskih miniaturnih spon, ki so služile za spenjanje jermena obuval ali torbice.44 Znani sta dve različici takih spon (tip C2),45 spona iz Mirna sodi k mlajši različici46 z enodelnim okovom z vložkom ledvičaste oblike, lahko gre za almandin ali steklo. Največ takih je v srednjem Podonavju, posamezne so na Krimu, v Italiji in na Bavarskem.47 Za predmet iz zapognjene tanke srebrne ploče- vine (t. 2: Gr. 5/2; sl. 9) domnevamo, da je okov torbice. Podobno ovalno oblikovana okova so našli v Straubingu48 in na grobišču Dittenheim v Nemčiji;49 v obeh primerih sta sodila k torbici. Podobno oblikovan je tudi okov, ki obroblja pokrov dragocene usnjene torbice, najdene v grobu na 37 Kramar, Kavkler, Dolenec 2018, 56–58. 38 Losert, Pleterski 2003, 374–375. 39 Losert, Pleterski 2003, 375, sl. 96: 9, seznam A445; Sage 1984, 165, t. 77: 11; Koch 2001, 84–85, 301–302, sl. 22, t. 38: gr. 95/6. 40 Losert, Pleterski 2003, 375. Redkeje jih najdejo na langobardskih ali tirinških grobiščih. 41 Viminacium (ni popolnoma jasno, ali gre za kresilo ali za okov s spono): Ivanišević, Kazanski, Mastykova 2006, 44, t. 44: gr. 2142/ 5; navaja še primerjave z najdišča Kormadin-Jakovo; Golemanovo Kale: Uenze 1992, 193, t. 11: 7, navaja še primerjavo z najdišča Rakovčani (BiH). 42 Grobišče na južni strani utrdbe Keszthely-Fenékpuszta iz sredine 5. st.: Straub 2011, t. 3: 6; 6: 4. 43 Aibabin, Khairedinova 2017, sl. 123: 2,7 (okov torbice, zaviti konci so nekoliko drugačni). 44 Schulze-Dörrlamm 2009, 86–88. 45 Schulze-Dörrlamm 2009, 86–88, op. 396–398. 46 Najstarejše so datirane v zadnjo tretjino 5. st.: Schulze-Dörrlamm 2009, 87, 89. 47 Schulze-Dörrlamm 2009, karta razprostranjenosti sl. 29. Srednje Podonavje: Csallány 1961, t. CXCI: 1. Bavarska: Straubing (Geisler 1998, t. 24: 5, v grobu 100, skupaj s parom ločnih fibul tipa Szentes-Trento). 48 Geisler 1998, 130–131, t. 124: 8. 49 Dannheimer 1987, 68, sl. 44. ladji na najdišču Sutton Hoo.50 Druge možnosti so, da je okov del lesene posode ali nožnice meča. Torbice so pogoste v moških, manj jih je v otroških grobovih iz 5. in 6. st.51 Običajno so bile izdelane iz tkanine ali usnja, največkrat jih v grobovih najdemo na pasu, na grobišču v Kranju so pogosto ob glavi.52 V torbicah so nosili drobne vsakdanje pripomočke (t. 3: Gr. 6/4–9; t. 2: Gr. 2/3,5–7). Železni noži V Mirnu so bili noži v moških grobovih 2, 5 in 6 (t. 2: Gr. 2/6, Gr. 5/4; 3: Gr. 6/5,6) vedno v predelu pasu, skupaj z drugimi vsakdanjimi pripomočki, kot sta kresilni kamen in pinceta. Glede na lego v grobovih z drugih grobišč je mogoče razbrati, da so jih moški najpogosteje nosili skupaj z drugimi predmeti v torbici, ženske pa obešene na trakovih, ki so viseli s pasu.53 Okova iz tanke srebrne pločevine Okova iz tanke srebrne pločevine, ki sta ležala ob stopalih pokojnikov (t. 1: Gr. 1/5; 2: Gr. 2/2) verjetno sodita k obuvalu. Različno oblikovane okove in jezičke iz tanke srebrne ali bronaste pločevine, izjemoma tudi zlate, ter tudi majhne spone za jermene, ki so del obuvala, so našli na grobišču Kranj – Lajh.54 Mnogo različnih setov obuval iz 5. in 6. st. je iz grobov na jugozahodnem Krimu,55 vendar neposrednih primerjav mirenski- ma nismo našli. Steklene in jantarne jagode Steklene in jantarne jagode (t. 1: Gr. 1/8,9; 4: Gr. 7/5–10) so v mirenskih grobovih št. 1 in 7 ležale na predelu prsi, kar nakazuje, da so bile najverjetneje nanizane na ogrlici, primerjave zanje pa najdemo na številnih najdiščih 5. in 6. stoletja.56 50 Carver 1998, 34–35, 126–127. 51 Vinski 1980, 26; Losert, Pleterski 2003, 371–372. 52 Urek et al. 2016b, t. 86; 90; 96; 116. 53 Losert, Pleterski 2003, 237–238, 380; Ivanišević, Kazanski, Mastykova 2006, t. 22: 135; 28: 145; 30: 151; 44: 2195. 54 Vinski 1980, 23; Stare 1980, t. 2: 5; 21: 8; 27: 5,6; 97: 8; 106: 12. 55 Khairedinova 2003. 56 Npr. Slabe 1975, 51–53; Vinski 1980, 23; Bitenc, Knific 2001, 65–66, kat. št. 202; 71, kat. št. 224; 80, kat. št. 257; 82, kat. št. 266; Losert, Pleterski 2003, 250–262; Ivanišević, Kazanski, Mastykova 2006, 51–117; Podob- nik 2016, 53–60; Micheletto, Giostra, Bedini 2019, 370, 371, sl. 5. 233Vzhodni Goti v Sloveniji? Raziskave grobišča iz obdobja pozne antike v Mirnu, zahodna Slovenija Steklen kozarec Steklen kozarec (t. 4: Gr. 7/4; sl. 10) tipološko sodi med kozarce brez noge (tip Isings 106), ki so bili razprostranjeni na območju celotnega rimskega imperija, najbolj v času od 4. st. do sredine 5. st., na višinskih naselbinah pa so v uporabi še v drugi polovici 5. in v 6. st.57 Glinen lonec Glinen lonec (t. 3: Gr. 6/10) je izdelan prostoroč- no in sodi med posode bikonične oblike. Podobne lonce so odkrili na grobišču v Viminaciju v grobu iz prve polovice 6. st.58 in na najdiščih Hács-Ben- dekpuszta (zahodna Madžarska), Ivanovice ter Šaratice (Moravska).59 Loncev samo po obliki ni mogoče ožje datirati. POJAV PREDMETOVIZ SPODNJEGA PODONAVJA NA SLOVENSKIH NAJDIŠČIH OB KONCU 4. IN V ZGODNJEM 5. STOLETJU Kot uvod v interpretacijo mirenskega grobišča predstavljamo posamezne predmete, ki nakazujejo začetek intenzivnejših stikov s Podonavjem in od- ražajo prisotnost tujih, tudi germanskih, elementov na slovenskem ozemlju ob koncu 4. in v zgodnjem 5. st. Takrat se na slovenskih najdiščih pojavijo predmeti, ki izvirajo iz spodnjega in srednjega Podonavja in ki jih povezujemo s pozno fazo kulture Černjahovo-Sîntana de Mureş na prostoru današnjih Ukrajine, Romunije in Moldavije. V skupino predmetov iz spodnjega Podonavja uvrščamo samostrelne fibule zgodnje sheme. To so iz brona ali železa izdelane dvodelne fibule z nazaj zavito nogo. Našli so jih na Ptuju (sl. 11: 1,2,4) in na Čepni nad Zagorjem (sl. 11: 3). V spodnjem Podonavju se pojavijo že v 3. st. in so v uporabi predvsem v 4. st. V poznem 4. in zgo- dnjem 5. st. se razširijo vse do srednje Evrope.60 V ta časovni okvir lahko uvrstimo tudi primerke s Ptuja in Čepne. Druga vrsta fibul, ki jih štejemo k elementom (post)černjahovske kulture, so ločne fibule. Te so se iz severnega Pričrnomorja ob koncu 4. st. razširile proti zahodu. Na slovenskih najdiščih so znane s 57 Milavec 2011b, 105–106. Milavec 2020, 87, t. 30: 10,12. 58 Ivanišević, Kazanski, Mastykova 2006, 216, t. 40: 2005. 59 Ivanišević, Kazanski, Mastykova 2006, 48 (s citirano literaturo). 60 Knific, Tomanič-Jevremov 1996, 374–375; Pflaum 2000, 121; Tica 2017, 129. Ptuja (sl. 11: 5), Sv. Lamberta pri Pristavi nad Stično (sl. 11: 6) in Zidanega gabra nad Mihovim (sl. 11: 7). Sočasno so se tudi na sosednjih ozemljih poja- vili predmeti, ki jih lahko razumemo kot vzhodni vpliv oz. sledi migracij barbarskih skupin z vzhoda v zgodnjem 5. st. V Italiji so take predmete, med katerimi so najbolj značilne srebrne pločevinaste fibule, našli večinoma v severovzhodnem delu ob glavnih prometnih vpadnicah.61 Povezujejo jih z vključevanjem federatov germanskega ali drugega izvora v enote rimske vojske in z njihovo namesti- tvijo na ključne strateške lokacije ob pomembnih vpadnicah v Italijo.62 Zosimus namreč poroča, da je bilo po smrti Stilihona na italskih tleh skupaj z družinami naseljenih več kot 30.000 vojakov, barbarov.63 Tudi na grobišču v Frauenbergu v Avstriji ne- katere predmete s konca 4. in začetka 5. st., kot so samostrelne fibule in pasne spone, ter pokope z namensko preoblikovanimi lobanjami povezujejo z barbarskimi priseljenci iz spodnjega Podonavja.64 Arheološke raziskave nakazujejo, da so se ob koncu 4. in v zgodnjem 5. st. predmeti, ki jih povezujemo s (post)černjahovsko kulturo, razširili po eni strani na jugovzhod (Krim) in severno v srednje Podonavje, v manjšem številu pa tudi v bolj oddaljene regije srednje in zahodne Evrope. V literaturi se ti predmeti opisujejo tudi kot “federatska” kultura in nakazujejo, da so različ- na barbarska ljudstva imela skupno materialno kulturo, v kateri se odražajo vplivi/izvor iz (post) černjahovske kulture in rimske provincialne tra- dicije.65 Teh predmetov ne moremo povezovati le z Germani, temveč tudi z Alani, Huni in drugimi barbarskimi skupinami. VZHODNOGERMANSKI ELEMENTI S KONCA 5. IN IZ PRVIH DESETLETIJ 6. STOLETJA NA SLOVENSKIH NAJDIŠČIH Predmeti s konca 5. in iz prvih desetletij 6. sto- letja, ki odražajo vzhodnogermanske značilnosti, so bili najdeni na grobiščih in v višinskih naselbinah, v naselbinskih plasteh regionalnih središč (Kranj, 61 Sannazaro 2006; Bierbrauer 2007, 94–99, 101, sl. 2: 1,2; 5: 1,2; 6: 3,4; Villa 2008, 25; Buora 2010, 189; Giostra 2011. 62 Villa 2006; Buora 2010, 189; Jiřik, Pinar Gil, Vávra 2019, 428 z dodatnimi citati. 63 Po Bierbrauer 2007, 103. 64 Steinklauber 2002, 184–188. 65 Jiřik, Pinar Gil, Vávra 2019, 439; Rácz 2019. 234 Vesna TRATNIK, Špela KARO Ljubljana) so našli le posamezne najdbe in v Kranju skromne ostanke (lesenih) bivališč (sl. 12). Na grobišču v Mirnu so pokopavali v poznem 5. in zgodnjem 6. st. Na tako datacijo kaže tipo- loško-kronološka analiza predmetov, s katero se prekriva tudi sicer zelo široka radiokarbonska datacija vzorca kosti iz groba 1 (sl. 5). V prepro- stih grobnih jamah so bili pokopani trije moški in štiri ženske iz različnih starostnih obdobij ter dva otroka. Pri pridatkih v grobovih smo prepoznali vzhodnogermanske elemente. Po en par ločnih fibul v grobovih 1 (sl. 13) in 7 je oblačilo pokojnic spenjal na zgornjem delu prsi (t. 1: Gr. 1/1,2; t. 4: Gr. 7/1,2). Moški so imeli v predelu pasu vsakdanje uporabne predmete, kot so nož, pinceta, šilo in kresilni kamen, kovinski okovi pa kažejo, da so bili nekateri izmed njih najverjetneje shranjeni v torbici (t. 2: Gr. 2,5; 3: Gr. 6). Dve pokojnici sta imeli preoblikovani lo- banji. Ta praksa je bila v poznoantičnem obdobju razširjena med pripadniki nekaterih barbarskih ljudstev, tudi Germanov,66 zasledimo pa jo na grobiščih Kranj – Lajh, v Dravljah in pri skeletu mlajšega moškega na Ptuju.67 Grobišče v Dravljah je v primerjavi z mirenskim večje. Raziskanih je bilo 49 grobov, več kot deset pa uničenih že predtem.68 Predmeti v grobovih kažejo na prevladujoče germanske elemente, nekatere bi lahko povezovali z Vzhodnimi Goti.69 Na velikem grobišču Kranj – Lajh lahko na podlagi nekaterih predmetov sklepamo, da so tu ob koncu 5. in v prvih desetletjih 6. st. poleg lokalnega prebi- valstva pokopavali tudi Germani. Izmed okrog 720 doslej raziskanimi grobovi70 pri 11 prepoznavamo vzhodnogermanske elemente. Za zdaj ni mogoče ugotoviti, ali so bili grobovi s tovrstnimi predmeti prostorsko omejeni le na določen del grobišča. Na višinskih najdiščih se posamični predmeti, ki jih lahko povezujemo z Germani, pojavljajo na Rifniku71, Gradcu pri Veliki Strmici,72 Sv. 66 Heinrich-Tamáska, Straub 2015, 631–634, sl. 6: 1b; Rácz 2016, 326–327; Miházi-Pálfi 2019. 67 Leben Seljak 2018, 67; Leskovar, Županek 2020, 478–481. 68 Slabe 1975, 7–10. 69 Slabe 1975, 77–79. 70 Lux, Ravnik 2008, 67–68; Knific, Lux 2015, 31. 71 Bolta 1981, 31–32, t. 2: 7–10; 4: 6–14; Bitenc, Knific 2001, 68–69, kat. št. 214; Tica 2017, 329. 72 Klasinc 1999, 37, 82, t. 1: 1–3,5; 2: 18; Bitenc, Knific 2001, 67–68, kat. št. 209 in 210; Knific 2005, 332–334, sl. 3: 1; Ciglenečki 2006, sl. 7; Bitenc, Knific 2008, 99–103, sl. 1: 4; 2: 7,8; 4: 3. Lambertu,73 Zidanem gabru74 in Puštalu nad Trnjem pri Škofji Loki.75 Najdenih je bilo tudi več kot 30 novcev, predvsem srebrnikov, kovanih v imenu vzhodnogotskih vladarjev, večina v vi- šinskih naselbinah (sl. 12).76 Germanske najdbe na višinskih najdiščih raziskovalci povezujejo z manjšimi vojaškimi posadkami, ki so bile v času vzhodnogotske oblasti nameščene v naselbinah in utrdbah na lokacijah, od koder so lahko varovale prehodna območja in nadzorovale prometne poti.77 Z Rifnika, dominantne in daleč vidne vzpetine, bi bilo mogoče nadzorovati eno izmed tras ceste, ki je iz Panonije vodila proti Emoni, iz naselbine Puštal nad prehodom v Selško dolino in blizu vstopa v Poljansko dolino pa poti, ki so vodile prek Cerkljanskega v Furlanijo.78 Na Tonovcovem gradu, naselbini z naravno obrambno lego in strateško lokacijo pred vrati Italije, bi vojaška posadka lahko varovala prehod iz zgornjega Posočja v Furlanijo.79 Zapise o tovrstnih postojankah zasledimo že pri antičnih piscih; Prokopij omenja Kotijske Alpe, kjer so prebivali Goti višjega sloja skupaj z ženami in otroki ter varovali mejo.80 Vloga naselbin na Zidanem gabru, Sv. Lamber- tu in Gradcu pri Veliki Strmici ni tako jasna; te so v okviru vzhodnogotskega kraljestva stale na ozemlju province Savija.81 Postavljene so bile na varnih, nekoliko odmaknjenih legah, ki pa niso zagotavljale najboljšega vidnega nadzora nad glavnimi komunikacijami, ki so bile v uporabi v rimski dobi (povezava Siscija–Emona). Zato bi kazalo upoštevati dvoje: da so bile v pozni antiki strateško pomembne druge (alternativne) poti82 ali pa so imele te naselbine drugačno vlogo, morda je šlo za manjša lokalna upravna središča oz. so imela večji regionalni pomen.83 73 Bitenc, Knific 2001, 68, kat. št. 213; Ciglenečki 2006, sl. 12: 2; Bitenc, Knific 2008, sl. 2: 6; 4: 4. 74 Bitenc, Knific 2001, 33, 68–69, kat. št. 88 in 215; Bitenc, Knific 2008, 100–103, sl. 1: 3; 2: 9–13; 4: 5, 6; Tratnik 2020, 79, 82–83, t. 8: 72,73; 9: 82; 10: 99. 75 Bitenc, Knific 2001, 68, kat. št. 212; Bitenc, Knific 2008, sl. 2: 5; Knific, Lux 2015, 36–37, sl. 12. 76 Demo 1994, 183; Kos 2000, 113, karta 3; Bitenc, Knific 2001, 64–65, kat. št. 194–201; Bratož 2014, 411–412; Knific, Lux 2015, 33, 37–38, sl. 8; 12. 77 Ciglenečki 2006, 113–117; Ciglenečki 2020, 213. 78 Ciglenečki 2015, 416, 419; Knific, Lux 2015, 38. 79 Ciglenečki 2011, 287. 80 Bierbrauer 2015, 296. 81 Bratož 2014, 375. 82 Ciglenečki 2015, 415. 83 Tratnik 2020, 156. 235Vzhodni Goti v Sloveniji? Raziskave grobišča iz obdobja pozne antike v Mirnu, zahodna Slovenija V nekdanjih urbanih središčih je sledov iz vzhodnogotskega obdobja malo. Emona je konec 4. in v začetku 5. st. spremenila svojo podobo. V tem času skromne sledove barbarske prisotnosti v mestu zasledimo v posameznih grobovih sever- nega emonskega grobišča in na vrtu Narodnega muzeja.84 Dokaze o obljudenosti mesta po sredini 5. st. težko najdemo; morda o tem pričata odlo- mek ločne fibule iz insule VII85 in pasna spona, izdelana v tehniki cloisonné, iz poznega 5. in pr- vih desetletij 6. st. iz emonskih plasti, domnevno insule XV na Jakopičevem vrtu.86 Drugače je bilo v poznoantičnem Karniju ob sotočju rek Save in Kokre, ta je bil v 5. in 6. st. zanesljivo poseljen. Poleg že obravnavanih najdb z grobišča Kranj – Lajh je germanska prisotnost z odlomkom ločne fibule in Teoderikovim srebrnikom izpričana v naselbinskih plasteh.87 Novejše raziskave v mestnem jedru so razkrile še ostanke lesenih hiš, v katerih sta bila poleg lončenine, značilne za Germane (predvsem Langobarde), najdena novca Teoderika (skovan pred letom 522) in Atalarika (vladal v letih med 527 in 534).88 Na koncu obravnave (vzhodno)germanskih elementov na slovenskih najdiščih kaže omeniti, da predmeti tujega izvora na naših najdiščih omo- gočajo tudi drugačno interpretacijo.89 Ti predmeti namreč ne dokazujejo nujno prisotnosti ali naselitve pripadnikov tujih etničnih skupin na našem oze- mlju, ampak bi njihov pojav lahko nakazoval zgolj izmenjavo in trgovske stike z njihovim izvornim območjem, s Podonavjem oz. vzhodnogotskim kraljestvom v Italiji. GROBIŠČA Z VZHODNOGERMANSKIMI ELEMENTI NA SOSEDNJIH OZEMLJIH Zgodovinski viri razkrivajo, da je po letu 473, ko so Vzhodni Goti dokončno zapustili Panonijo, v Italijo šlo več skupin pod njihovim vodstvom. Največja med njimi je bila tista, ki jo je vodil Teo- derik; ta se je proti Italiji napotila leta 488. Sesta- 84 Vuga 1985; Knific, Tomanič-Jevremov 1996, 380–386. 85 Bitenc, Knific 2001, 68, kat. št. 211; Bitenc, Knific 2008, sl. 2: 14. 86 Slabe 1978. 87 Sagadin 2008, 142, sl. 29; 30; Knific, Lux 2015, 31. 88 Urankar, Bešter 2014, 26–28, 37–39, 42; Knific, Lux 2015, 31, sl. 4c, op. 11 in 12; Tica 2017, 293. 89 Prim. npr. Barbiera 2010, 124–128. vljali so jo Goti skupaj s pridruženimi skupinami pripadnikov različnih ljudstev, med katerimi so bili tako moški kot tudi ženske in otroci.90 Naslednje leto naj bi današnje slovensko ozemlje prečkali v smeri od Petovijone proti zahodu prek Celeje in Emone ter skozi Vipavsko dolino proti Italiji. V bitki 28. avgusta 489 je Teoderik ob prehodu čez reko Sočo premagal Odoakra, s čimer si je utrl pot v Italijo. Prehod Vzhodnih Gotov prek Soče simbolno pomeni tudi začetek njihove države v Italiji, ki je obstajala dobra štiri desetletja in se je raztezala na ozemlju takratne Italije s Sicilijo, južne Galije, obeh Recij ter Zahodnega Ilirika.91 Na vzhodnem obrobju vzhodnogotske Italije je bilo tudi grobišče v Mirnu, zato se pri njegovi interpretaciji lahko opremo na nekatera primerljiva in bolje raziskana najdišča v soseščini. Severno od našega ozemlja so bili grobovi, ki jih povezujejo z Germani, odkriti na vzhodnem grobišču v Globasnici (Globasnitz). Na njem bi nekatere značilnosti, kot so namensko preobli- kovane lobanje in posamezni predmeti, lahko kazale, da so tam poleg romanskega prebivalstva pokopavali tudi Germani. Franz Glaser meni, da gre za vzhodnogotske elemente, ki se najbolj odražajo v vojaški noši, prisotnost vojakov pa povezuje z delovanjem obcestne postaje, ki je bila ključna tudi za nadzor ceste iz Virunuma do Celeje.92 Kot na podlagi nadaljnjih raziskav grobi- šča in ponovnega ovrednotenja najdb v grobovih nasprotno meni Paul Gleirscher, ni dokazov za to, da so na vzhodnem grobišču pokopavali le v času, ko je ozemlje sodilo v okvir vzhodnogotske države (493–536/537), prav tako ni dokazov, da so bili pokopani vojaki Goti.93 Na strateško pomembnost lokacij v poznoantič- nem času kažejo najdišča v severni Italiji. V kraju Frascaro je bila v bližini nekdanje cestne povezave raziskana manjša naselbina iz časa med poznim 5. in sredino oz. tretjo četrtino 6. st. z grobiščem. Grobišče s skupinami družinsko povezanih gro- bov in naselbino pripisujejo vzhodnogermanskim priseljencem, ki so živeli odmaknjeno od lokalne skupnosti, na prostoru nekdanje podeželske vile in v bližini ceste, ki naj bi jo nadzorovali.94 90 Gračanin, Škrgulja 2014, 178–181, s sklici in citati na antične vire. 91 Bratož 2014, 372−375. 92 Glaser 2006, 102. 93 Gleirscher 2021, 39–42. 94 Micheletto 2003, 698–704; Bierbrauer 2007, 106–113; Micheletto, Giostra, Bedini 2019, 367–372, sl. 1. 236 Vesna TRATNIK, Špela KARO Tudi sočasno naselbino s pripadajočim grobi- ščem v kraju Collegno so zgradili ob pomembni cesti, ki je vodila iz Augusta Taurinorum (Torino) proti alpski dolini Susa in Galiji; v bližini najdišča je cesta prečkala reko Doro. Majhno družinsko grobišče interpretirajo kot grobišče vzhodno- germanskih – verjetno gotskih – pripadnikov višjega sloja, ki so prebivali v le nekaj deset metrov oddaljeni naselbini, od koder so lahko s strateške pozicije nadzirali cesto.95 V mestu Tortona, na strateški lokaciji ob reki Scrivia in ob komunikaciji via Postumia, ki je povezovala jadranski prostor z Ligurijo, so se v poznoantičnem obdobju oblikovali manjši zaselki z lesenimi stavbami, cerkvijo in grobiščem.96 Ob glavni cesti v severnem delu mesta so odkrili sledi lesenih stavb in več predmetov, ki jih povezujejo z Vzhodnimi Goti.97 Na jugozahodnem robu mesta, ob poti v rečno pristanišče, ki je bilo v 6. st. še aktivno, so raziskali nekaj grobov. Po predmetih v njih domnevajo, da gre za manjše družinsko grobišče z vzhodnogotskimi elementi, na katerem so pokopavali le krajši čas.98 Območje Mirna se je v obdobju vzhodnogotskega kraljestva v Italiji navezovalo na njegovo vzhodno obrobje. Prisotnost Gotov v bližnji Akvileji za zdaj lahko domnevamo le na podlagi posameznih najdb, ki sodijo k ženski noši.99 V pokrajinah Furlanija in Trentinsko – Zgornje Poadižje/Južna Tirolska so več predmetov, ki jih povezujejo z Vzhodnimi Goti, našli večinoma vzdolž pomembnih tranzitnih poti, npr. na grobišču Planis na obrobju mesta Udine (Videm)100 in v kraju Trento.101 ZAKLJUČEK Kako torej razumeti grobišče v Mirnu in ger- manske elemente v raziskanih grobovih? Glede 95 Pejrani Baricco et al. 2019, 373–378, sl. 1; 3–6. 96 Giostra 2007, 285. 97 Giostra 2007; Crosetto 2018, 186–187. 98 Crosetto 2018, 191–194, sl. 18–22. 99 Buora 2010, 188; Bierbrauer 1975, 102. 100 Buora 2008, 87–88; Buora 2010, 189. 101 Cavada 1994, 224–231. na omenjena grobišča iz Italije (Frascaro, Colle- gno, Tortona), Avstrije (Globasnica) in Slovenije (Dravlje, Kranj) je skupna točka vseh, da ležijo v nižini ob pomembnih cestnih oz. rečnih po- vezavah ali križiščih. Največkrat gre za manjša, domnevno družinska grobišča, ki so bila v bli- žini naselbine. Grobovi z vzhodnogermanskimi elementi na grobišču Kranj – Lajh pa so znotraj večjega, večetničnega pokopališča v pokrajin- skem središču, na katerem so prebivalci Karnija pokopavali dlje časa. Na podlagi časovne umestitve predmetov in zgo- dovinskih dogodkov se zdi najverjetnejša uporaba mirenskega grobišča v obdobju vzhodnogotskega kraljestva v Italiji, tj. v zadnjem desetletju 5. in v zgodnjem 6. st. Avtorici domnevava, da so na grobišču pokopavali pripadniki vzhodnogermanske skupnosti, povezani z v virih izpričano skupino pod vodstvom Teoderika, torej pod vodstvom Vzhodnih Gotov. Ali so bile med pokojniki tudi družinske povezave, bodo morda osvetlile analize starodavne človeške DNA.102 Naselbina, ki ji je pripadalo grobišče v Mirnu, še ni bila odkrita, ena od možnih lokacij je bli- žnja vzpetina z mirenskim gradom (sl. 2). Druga možnost – po analogijah iz severne Italije – je, da je stala naselbina v neposredni bližini grobišča. Prebivalci naselbine bi lahko bili med tistimi pri- šleki, ki jim je Teoderik po zmagi nad Odoakrom v svojem kraljestvu podelil obdelovalno zemljo.103 Morda pa je šlo za manjše začasno naselje, v ka- terem je bila nastanjena skupina prišlekov, ena izmed tistih, ki so bile leta 489 pod Teoderikovim vodstvom na pohodu v Italijo. V zvezi z njegovim pohodom se v zgodovinskih virih namreč omenja bitka pri mostu čez reko Sočo (Ponte Sonti), tj. blizu današnje vasi Majnice (Mainizza) severno od izliva Vipave, nedaleč stran od katere leži mirensko grobišče.104 102 Grobišče v Mirnu je vključeno v mednarodni ra- ziskovalni projekt HistoGenes. Koordinatorka za Slovenijo je dr. Tina Milavec z Oddelka za arheologijo Filozofske fakultete Univerze v Ljubljani (Pohl et al. 2021). 103 Bratož 2014, 379. 104 Bratož 2014, 373–374. 237Ostrogoths in Slovenia? Case study of a Late Antique cemetery in Miren, western Slovenia Pl. 1: Miren – Japnišče. Grave 1. 1–2 silver, gilded; 3, 5,11 silver; 4 lead; 6–7 iron; 8–9 amber; 10 bone, 12 bronze. Scale = 1:2. T. 1: Miren – Japnišče. Grob 1. 1–2 srebro, pozlata; 3, 5,11 srebro; 4 svinec; 6–7 železo; 8–9 jantar; 10 kost, 12 bron. M. = 1:2. 238 Vesna TRATNIK, Špela KARO Pl. 2: Miren – Japnišče. Grave 2. 1–2,8 silver; 3–4 bronze; 5–6 iron; 7 stone. Grave 5. 1–2 silver; 3 bronze; 4 iron; 5 stone. Scale = 1:2. T. 2: Miren – Japnišče. Grob 2. 1–2,8 srebro; 3–4 bron; 5–6 železo; 7 kamen. Grob 5. 1–2 srebro; 3 bron; 4 železo; 5 kamen. M. = 1:2. 239Ostrogoths in Slovenia? Case study of a Late Antique cemetery in Miren, western Slovenia Pl. 3: Miren – Japnišče. Grave 6. 1–8 iron; 9 stone; 10 ceramic. Scale 1–9 = 1:2; 10 = 1:3 T. 3: Miren – Japnišče. Grob 6. 1–8 železo; 9 kamen; 10 keramika. M. 1–9 = 1:2; 10 = 1:3 240 Vesna TRATNIK, Špela KARO Illustrations: Fig. 1 (elaborated by: Nejc Dolinar). – Fig. 3 (elaborated by: Nuša Kovačič). – Fig. 4 (photo: Tomaž Fabec; Manca Vinazza). – Figs. 6–10,13 (photo: Marcel Kump). – Fig. 11. (drawings: Dragica Knific Lunder; Ida Murgelj). – Fig. 12 (elaborated by: Ida Murgelj). Slikovno gradivo: Sl. 1 (izdelava: Nejc Dolinar). – Sl. 3 (izdelava: Nuša Kovačič). – Sl. 4 (foto: Tomaž Fabec; Manca Vinazza). – Sl. 6–10,13 (foto: Marcel Kump). – Sl. 11 (risba: Dragica Knific Lunder; Ida Murgelj). – Sl. 12 (izdelava: Ida Murgelj). The authors acknowledge the financial support from the Slovenian Research Agency (as a part of the P6-0283 research programme). Članek je nastal v okviru raziskovalnega programa Raziskave arheološke dediščine (P6-0283), ki ga je sofinancirala Javna agencija za raziskovalno dejavnost Republike Slovenije. Pl. 4: Miren – Japnišče. Grave 7. 1–3,11 iron; 4–5, 7–9 glass; 6,10 amber; 12 ceramic. Scale = 1:2. T. 4: Miren – Japnišče. Grob 7. 1–3,11 železo; 4–5, 7–9 steklo; 6,10 jantar; 12 keramika. M. = 1:2. Vesna Tratnik Narodni muzej Slovenije Prešernova c. 20 SI-1000 Ljubljana vesna.tratnik@nms.si Špela Karo Zavod za varstvo kulturne dediščine Slovenije Center za preventivno arheologijo Poljanska c. 40 SI-1000 Ljubljana spela.karo@zvkds.si