Bastarnae - Material Culture

Material Culture

It is uncertain whether the Bastarnae were sedentary or nomadic (or semi-nomadic). Tacitus' statement that they were "German in their way of life and types of dwelling" implies a sedentary bias, but their close relations with the Sarmatians, who were nomadic, may indicate a more nomadic lifestyle, as does the wide geographical range of their attested inhabitation.

Traditional archaeology has not been able to unequivocally match individual archaeological sites as belonging to the Bastarnae, whilst "new" archaeology has moved away from trying to ascribe material remains to distinct "ethnic" groupings. Nevertheless, two closely related cultures are possible candidate regions as they broadly correspond to where sources placed the Basternae: the Zarubintsy culture lying in the forest-steppe zone in northern Ukraine-southern Belarus, and the Poienesti-Lukashevka culture in northern Moldavia. These cultures show a variety of influences: Pomeranian, Milograd, Scythian and Getic, with La Tene and Roman Danubian influences evident at their maturity; making them more "Central European" in outlook (i.e. similar to the Przeworsk culture) rather than of the "forest-Venedic" or Carpic-Dacian types.

During the mid 1st century AD, the Zarubintsy and Lukashevka cultures came to an end in their true form, possibly due to Sarmatian invasions and perturbations of central European trade due to Caesar's invasion of Gaul (the 'heart' of the La Tene culture). The area inhabited by the Zarubintsy culture had no settlements after c. 100 AD. However, certain Zarubintsy elements remained, found scattered throughout neighbouring areas of eastern Europe. In the upper Dniester, where the Basternae are described to have inhabited, post-Zarubintsy, Przeworsk and Sarmatian elements formed the Zvenigrod group, which also has some analogies with the "Dacian" Lipitsa culture.

The cultures represent relatively large -scale socio-economic interactions between disparate communities of the broad region, possibly including mutually antagonistic groups.

Starting in about AD 200, the Chernyakhov culture became established in the W. Ukraine/Moldova region inhabited by the Bastarnae. The culture is characterised by a high degree of sophistication in the production of metal and ceramic artefacts, as well as of uniformity over a vast area. Although this culture has conventionally been identified with the migration of the Gothic ethnos into the region from the Northwest, Todd argues that its most important origin is Scytho-Sarmatian. Although the Goths certainly contributed to it, so probably did other peoples of the region such as the Dacians, proto-Slavs, Carpi, and possibly the Bastarnae.