The Glass Beaker from Bilche-Zolote: On the Chronological and Cultural Attribution of the Find
Abstract
The paper represents an attempt at a cultural and chronological attribution of the glass vessel found in the vicinity of the village of Bilche-Zolote in Ternopil region. The cup was purchased from local residents by Princess Teresa Sapieha around the turn of the 20th century. Information about the find was first published by V. Demetrykiewicz in 1904. Later, in his list of Roman imports H.-J. Eggers designated the vessel from BilcheZolote as variant b of Eggers type 188; this type also includes finds from Bugno (variant c) and Linowiec (variant a) in the north of today’s Poland. The typological connection between the beakers from Bilche-Zolote and Linowiec was also noted by A. T. Braichevska (Smilenko), who was one of the first researchers to include the find from Ternopil region among the Chernyakhiv artifacts of Roman origin. Given the dating of the Linowiec vessel, she proposed to assign the beaker from Bilche-Zolote to the 3rd century. This cultural attribution remained widely accepted in historiography for several decades. Today, the dating of the vessel from Bilche-Zolote may be seen as one of the main arguments against such an interpretation. Its closest equivalents are beakers of Eggers type 188a. They are mainly known from the Wielbark culture of the lower Vistula, where their presence is localized in the last third of the 2nd and first third of the 3rd centuries. Their origin is obviously connected with the northwestern provinces of the Roman Empire. The period of their circulation in the Barbaricum precedes the formation of the Chernyakhiv culture, which began no earlier than the second third of the 3rd century. Given the localization of the various cultural groups of the period from the last third of the 2nd to first third of the 3rd centuries in the upper Dniester region, we may suppose that the Bilche-Zolote vessel could be contextually connected to the sites of the Przeworsk or Lypytsya cultures in the area. If so, the glass beaker may have reached the upper Dniester via the northern route, through the mediation of the Wielbark and Przeworsk cultures.
Downloads
References
Andrzejowski, J. The Przeworsk Culture. A Brief Story (for the Foreigners). In: U. Lund Hansen, A. Bitner-Wróblewska (eds.). Worlds Apart? Contacts across the Baltic Sea in the Iron Age. København-Warszawa, 2010, pp. 1–52.
Barkóczi, L. Pannonische Glasfunde in Ungarn. Studia Archaeologica, no. 9. Budapest, 1988.
Ceslinski, A. Chapter 7. The Society of Wielbark Culture, AD 1–300. In: A. RzeszotarskaNowakiewicz (ed.). The Past Societies 500 BC – 500 AD, vol. 4. Warszawa, 2016, pp. 217–256.
Demetrykiewicz, V., Zingerle, J. Fund aus Ostgalizien. Jahreshefte des Österreichischen Archäologischen Institutes in Wien, Bd. 7, 1904, s. 149–158.
Eggers, H.-J. Der Römische Import im Freien Germanien. Hamburg, 1951.
Eggers, H.-J. Zur absoluten Chronologie der Römischen Kaiserzeit im Freien Germanien. Jahrbuch des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums Mainz, Bd. 2, 1955, S. 196–252.
Foy, D., Labaune-Jean, F., Leblond, C., Pruvot, C. M., Marty, M. T., Massart, C., Munier, C., Robin, L., Roussel-Ode, J. Verres incolores de l`Antiquité Romaine en Gaule et aux Marges de la Gaule. Volume 2. Typologie et analyses. Archaeopress Roman Archaeology 42. Oxford, 2018.
Fünfschilling, S. Die römischen Gläser aus Augst und Kaiseraugst. Kommentierter Formenkatalog und ausgewählte Neufunde 1981-2010 aus Augusta Raurica. Text und Formenkatalog. Forschungen in Augst, Bd. 51. Augst, 2015.
Godłowski, K. The Chronology of the Late Roman and Early Migration Periods in Central Europe. Kraków, 1970.
Kokowski, A. Romerske glasbægre i Barbaricum. H. J. Eggers type 189 i mellemog Nordeuropa. Aarbøger for Nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie, 2001. København, 2004, s. 35–41.
Kozak, D. N. Etnokul'turna istoriia Volyni (I st. do n. e. — IV st. n. e.). Kyiv, 1992. (In Ukrainian)
Kropotkin, V. V. Rimskie importnye izdelija v Vostochnoj Evrope (II v. do n. je. — V v. n. je.). V: Svod arheologicheskih istochnikov, D1-27. Moskva, 1970. (In Russian)
Levada, M., Dudek, A. Pshevorskoe vlijanie na keramicheskij kompleks chernjahovskoj kul'tury (po materialam Juzhnoj Pol'shi, Verhnego Dnestra i Zapadnogo Buga). In: Kultura przeworska, t. IV, Lublin, 1998, s. 47–58. (In Russian)
Lіkhter, Yu. A. Steklo chernjahovskoj kul'tury. Rossijskaja arheologija [Russian Archaeology], no. 2, 1998, s. 41–53. (In Russian)
Lіkhter, Ju. A. Glass of the Chernyakhov Culture. In: Annales du 14e Congrès de l’Association Internationale pour l’Histoire du Verre (Venezia – Milano, Italia, 1998). Lochem, 2000, pp. 192– 195.
Lund Hansen, U. Römischer Import im Norden. København, 1987.
Lyubichev, M. V. Rannjaja istorija dnepro-doneckoj lesostepi I–V vekov. Ch. 1. OstrogothicaSerie, 2. Har'kov, 2019. (In Russian)
Magomedov, B. V. Chernjahovskaja kul'tura. Problema jetnosa. V: A. Kokowski (red.). Monumenta Studia Gothica, t. 1, Lublin, 2001. (In Russian)
Malieiev, Yu. M., Konoplia, V. M. Bahatosharove poselennia Blyschanka na r. Seret. Vita Antiqua, no. 1, 1999, s. 45–58. (In Ukrainian)
Myzgin, K. V. Do pytannia krytyky numizmatychnykh dzherel (na prykladi vyvchennia znakhidok antychnykh monet na terytorii Skhidnoievropejs'koho Barbarykumu). Visnyk Kharkivs'koho natsional'noho universytetu imeni V. N. Karazina. Seriia «Istoriia» [The Journal of V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University. Series History], vyp. 50, 2015, s. 179–188. (In Ukrainian)
Natuniewicz-Sekuła, M., Baczewski, M. Weklice. In: A Cemetery of the Wielbark Culture on the Eastern Margin of the Vistula Delta (Excavations 2005–2018). Warszawa, 2023.
Olijnyk, V., Mykhajlovs’kyj, V. Pshevors'ke pokhovannia poblyzu sela Shypivtsi na Ternopil'schyni. Materialy i doslidzhennia z arkheolohii Prykarpattia i Volyni [Materials and Studies on Archaeology of Sub-Carpathian and Volhynian Area], vyp. 10, 2006, s. 122– 123. (In Ukrainian)
Onyshchuk, J. I. Naselennia Zakhidnoi Volyni ta Zakhidnoho Podillia u pershij polovyni I tys. n. e.: kul'turno-istorychnyj aspekt. L'viv, 2018. (In Ukrainian)
Renfrew, C., Bahn, P. Archaeology. Theories, Methods, and Practice. London, 2016.
Rook, E., Trela, E. Stanowiska kultury trypolskiej w Bilczu Złotym w dawnym powiecie Borszczów, w świetle zbiorów krakowskich. In: J. Lech, J. Partyka (red.). Z archeologii Ukrainy i Jury Ojcowskiej. Ojców, 2001, s. 183–206.
Sennequier, G. La verrerie romaine en Haute-Normandie. Montagnac, 2013.
Shchukin, M. B. Gotskij put' (goty, Rim i chernjahovskaja kul'tura). Sankt-Peterburg, 2005. (In Russian)
Smilenko, A. T. Pro deiaki datuiuchi rechi v kul'turi poliv pokhovan'. Arkheolohiia [Archaeology], t. VI, 1952, s. 51–73.(In Ukrainian)
Stawiarska, T. Naczynia szklane okresu rzymskiego z terenu Polski. Warszawa, 1999.
Symonovich, E. A. Stekljannaja posuda iz podneprovsko-prichernomorskih pamjatnikov chernjahovskoj kul'tury. Sovetskaja arheologija [Soviet Archaeology], no. 1, 1977, s. 176–186. (In Russian)
Symonovich, E. A. Stekljannye kubki iz Zhuravki. Kratkie soobshhenija Instituta arheologii AN SSSR [Brief Communications of the Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR], vyp. 102, 1964, s. 8–12. (In Russian)
Tejral, J. Fremde Einflüsse und kulturelle Veränderungen nördlich der mittleren Donau zu Beginn der Völkerwanderungszeit. Archaeologia Baltica, vol. VII, 1986, S. 175–238.
Tejral, J. Einige Bemerkungen zur Chronologie der späten römischen Kaiserzeit in Mitteleuropa. In: K. Godłowski, R. Madyda-Legutko (Hrsg.). Probleme der relativen und absoluten Chronologie ab Latenezeit bis zum Frühmittelalter. Krakow, 1992, S. 227–248.
Tejral, J. Neue Aspekte der frühvölkerwanderungszeitlichen Chronologie im Mitteldonauraum. In: J. Tejral, H. Friesinger, M. Kazanski (Hrsg.). Neue Beiträge zur Erforschung der Spätantike im mittleren Donauraum. Brno, 1997, S. 321–362.
Teresa Elżbieta Maria ks. Sanguszko-Kowelska h. Pogoń Litewska, http://www.sejm-wielki.pl/b/cz.I002550. Accessed: 24 Feb. 2023.
Tsyhylyk, V. M. Naselennia Verkhn'oho Podnistrov'ia pershykh stolit' nashoi ery (plemena lypyts'koi kul'tury). Kyiv, 1975. (In Ukrainian)
Copyright (c) 2024 Vladyslav Shchepachenko
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
