Merowingerzeit am Niederrhein: Die fruhmittelalterlichen Funde aus dem Regierungsbezirk Dusseldorf und dem Kreis Heinsberg.

Merowingerzeit am Niederrhein: Die fruhmittelalterlichen Funde aus dem Regierungsbezirk Dusseldorf und dem Kreis Heinsberg. FRANK SIEGMUND. Merowingerzeit am Niederrhein: Diefruhmittelalterlichen Funde aus dem Regierungsbezirk Dusseldorf und demKreis Heinsberg. (Rheinische Ausgrabungen 34.) 542 pages plus 264 colour& b&w plates, maps in pocket. 1998. Bonn: Dr RudolfHabelt/Cologne: Rheinland-Verlag; hardback 3-7927-1247-4. Every archaeologist who -- like the reviewer -- deals with strayfinds, with poorly equipped cemeteries or with meagre mea��geralso mea��gre ?adj.1. Deficient in quantity, fullness, or extent; scanty.2. Deficient in richness, fertility, or vigor; feeble: the meager soil of an eroded plain.3. settlements, longsfor a kind of catalogue in which to find additional information andespecially a date for the finds. Scholars of the early Middle Ages oftenlook for it in the German section of their library. Here is a long andrich tradition of publications of early Medieval material, especiallyfrom cemeteries, resulting in a row of publications, often descriptionsof cemeteries. Although often with valuable remarks on typochronology,most books are restricted to one place. Reviews of larger areas arequite rare. For years, the work of Kurt Bohner (1958) was the most used.Later authors did improve this work but, for a completely new book, wehad to wait until Merowingerzeit am Niederrhein. From 1989, a shortversion was available, a so-called Disdruck, Frankische Funde vomdeutschen Niederrhein und der nordlichen Kolner Bucht. Readers of thatbook longed for the final publication with complete catalogue. LikeBohner, Siegmund studied all available material and cemeteries in acertain area in Germany for the period AD 400-740. His study area isroughly the Rheinland from Dusseldorf to the Dutch border. After discussing the material, Siegmund made a typochronology ofthe material culture and divided the period into 11 phases, classifyingthe material in groups of chronological relevance. Chorological analysisof all usable cemeteries, as well as all other dating material, is usedto get a chronological sequence Noun 1. chronological sequence - a following of one thing after another in time; "the doctor saw a sequence of patients"chronological succession, succession, successiveness, sequencetemporal arrangement, temporal order - arrangement of events in time of the material. The 11 phases arebetween 20 and 45 years long. Siegmund is aware that they are quiteshort and that the dating is not absolute, but he is convinced that formost objects it is more or less correct. Merowingerzeit am Niederrhein will become one of the most citedbooks on early Medieval Europe. It will reward lots of archeologists inthe western part of Germany and the Low Countries with a date for theirfinds. It will be used as a kind of identification book like abotanist's or a bird-watcher's guide. It is a pity that thecaptions of the different types are not accompanied with smallillustrations of the type. One has to look in the large section withplates for visual identification. I am aware that this kind ofarchaeology book needs more sustained and critical use than abird-watcher's guide, but small illustrations would have been mostconvenient. The book gives such an amazing a��maze?v. a��mazed, a��maz��ing, a��maz��esv.tr.1. To affect with great wonder; astonish. See Synonyms at surprise.2. Obsolete To bewilder; perplex.v.intr. amount of information -- apart fromthe discussion of all the types, there are all kinds of excursuses (forinstance, about the graves under the Dom of Xanten, Badorfer pottery,the cemetery of Rill with coffins and a large number of handmade pots)-- that it is impossible to review it all. One example is the smalldisc-shaped beads of sea-shell already separately published by Siegmund& Weiss (1989). These beads were mainly found in the middle andlower Rhineland and dated to the 7th century (Niederrhein phase 8B-10;AD 625-705). According to according toprep.1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.2. In keeping with: according to instructions.3. isotopic analyses of the material by Jux (nowpublished here) it is most probable that the beads were made ofSpondylus shell (Spondylus gaederopus L.), from the Mediterranean. Thebeads struck me because in the northern Dutch coastal area severalstrings with identical beads were found (Knol 1993: 85-7). A bead fromHoogebeintum grave 48 was dated 1820 [+ or -] 75 (OxA-3199, which,corrected for the reservoir effect, is 1415 [+ or -] 85 BP). Wood of thecoffin of this grave was dated 1420 [+ or -] 30 BP (GrN-16121). Theabsolute date of the Hoogebeintum beads is AD 530-690 at 2s. Siegmundpublished a date of a bead from Stockum of 1510 [+ or -] 130 BP which isin accordance with the Dutch date. The same type of beads were found inNorway (Sjovold 1974: 137-8). The beads are a nice example of trade --made of Mediterranean oysters transported to northwestern Europe. Acomparable kind of trade goods are the large cowrie cowrieor cowry(both: kou`rē), common name applied to marine gastropods belonging to the family Cypraeidae, a well-developed family of marine snails found in the tropics. shells, a commongrave good in early Medieval times This is the article on the Medieval Times dinner theater chain. For the historical time period, see Middle Ages.Medieval Times Dinner & Tournament , also in the Niederrhein. Notcommonly known is that, so far, all zoologically identified examples areof Cypraea pantherini (Lightfoot), which lives only in the Gulf of Aden Noun 1. Gulf of Aden - arm of the Indian Ocean at the entrance to the Red SeaIndian Ocean - the 3rd largest ocean; bounded by Africa on the west, Asia on the north, Australia on the east and merging with the Antarctic Ocean to the south and the Red Sea. It is a pity that the chalk of these beads and shellsis dissolved in most of the sandy areas of the Low Countries and theNorth German Plain. Otherwise, there would be a better picture of theexchange of these objects. Every archaeological institute or scholar working with Merovingianmaterial needs this book to hand on his bookshelf. EGGE KNOL Groninger Museum The Groninger Museum is a museum in Groningen in the north of The Netherlands.Perhaps not as famous as the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, it nevertheless is considered to be one of the best museums in The Netherlands. , Groningen References BOHNER, K. 1958. Die frankischen Altertumer des Trier Landes.Berlin: Gebr. Mann Verlag. KNOL, E. 1993. De Noordnederlaandse kustlanden in de VroegeMiddeleeuwen. Ph.D. thesis, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam (education, body) Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam - The "Free University of Amsterdam", founded in 1880 by Abraham Kuyper (who later became Prime Minister of The Netherlands). Originally only open to Reformed Christians, it is now open to all. . SIEGMUND, F. & M. WEISS. 1989. Perlen aus Muschelscheibchen immerowingerzeitlichen Mitteleuropa, Archaologisches Korrespondenzblatt19: 297-307. SJOVOLD, T. 1974. The Iron Age settlement of Arctic Norway 2.Tromso: Norwegian University Press.