Original scientific paper
Periphery as the key: Understanding interactions and identities through archaeological records; example of two Late Avar-age cemeteries in western Syrmia, Croatia
Pia Šmalcelj Novaković
; Njegoševa 5, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Western Syrmia, a region once part of the former late Roman province Pannonia Sirmiensis, is traditionally regarded as part of the southernsoutheastern periphery of the Late Avar Khaganate. Western Syrmia is a micro-region with the highest number of
archaeologically researched Late Avar cemeteries in Croatia, where a Periphery as the key: Understanding interactions and identities through archaeological records; example of two Late Avar-age cemeteries in western Syrmia, Croatia, where a
series of archaeological finds suggests the possibility of some kind of Late Antique/Mediterranean cultural influence. This may be observed through the “survival” of certain activities and/or skills, and a greater receptivity of (certain?) communities to the Mediterranean “fashion”, while historical circumstances allow for theories about existing communication routes between this peripheral area of the Khaganate and the Byzantine sphere. At the same time, the peripheral nature of Western Syrmia in the border area of the Khaganate partially explains why its inhabitants were more receptive to external influences and cultural differences, and why there were deviations in the expected self-representation of local women from the common one. In fact, the Late Avar cultural repertoire may have been a deliberate effort to “conceal” the true identities of these communities, by using shared objects of self-representation of the well-known and dominant cultural expression of the time—the one of the Late Avars.
Keywords
Late Avar period; Western Syrmia; Privlaka-Gole njive; Mediterranean cultural influence
Hrčak ID:
329703
URI
Publication date:
31.12.2024.
Visits: 220 *