The Early Medieval graves of Groß Ottenhagen (Berezovka). On the way from Sambia to the middle reaches of the Niemen
Volume 28 (2021), pp. 150–174
Pub. online: 29 December 2021
Type: Article
Open Access
Open Access
Received
15 February 2021
15 February 2021
Revised
17 March 2021
17 March 2021
Accepted
4 August 2021
4 August 2021
Published
29 December 2021
29 December 2021
Abstract
The field research at Groß ottenhagen (Berezovka) conducted in 2003 and 2004 was the first
international scientific collaboration between German and russian archaeologists in kaliningrad
region since 1945. The Groß ottenhagen cemetery demonstrates almost continuous functioning
for about 1,000 years, from the roman iron Age up to the middle Ages. The part of the site considered
in the article belongs to the last stage of the development of sambian-natangian culture
among the old Prussians in the 11th to the 13th centuries Ad. despite a first analysis by the
excavators in 2005, this data from the cemetery has never been fully published. Groß ottenhagen
graves from the discussed period are represented by so-called double layer burial features, with
human cremations on top of horse burials. The burial rites and grave goods at the cemetery are
discussed in the context of archaeological material from the sambian peninsula and southwest
and central lithuania. The relative chronology of Groß ottenhagen is based on an analysis of
grave goods, as well as the stratigraphy and the spatial distribution of the graves. According to
the absence of imported/status goods at Groß ottenhagen, the cemetery probably belonged to a
peripheral group of the late sambian-natangian region culture of the Prussians.