Old Europe (Vinca) language and culture in early layers of Serbian and Irish culture

The Lusatian culture existed in the later Bronze Age and early Iron Age (1300 BCE – 500 BCE) in most of today's Poland, parts of Czech Republic and Slovakia, parts of eastern Germany (where it is known as Lausitz, Latin: Lusatia) and parts of Ukraine. It covers the Periods Montelius III (early Lusatian culture) to V of the Northern-European chronological scheme.
There were close contacts with the Nordic Bronze Age.[1] Hallstatt and La Tène influences can also be seen particularly in ornaments (fibulae, pins) and weapons... Well known settlements include Biskupin in Poland and Buch near Berlin. There are both open villages and fortified settlements (burgwall or grod) on hilltops or in swampy areas. The ramparts were constructed of wooden boxes filled with soil or stones.

On two locations, Herodotus stresses the fact that the Scythians don't have any fortified cities (4.46.3, .127.2), but were nomads. However, he varies this simple statement somewhat in the geographical excursus (4.17-20), in which he distinguishes Plough Scythians, Agricultural Scythians, Nomad Scythians, and Royal Scythians. Those categories show different geographic distribution: The farer we come away from Herodotus' point of departure at Olbia, the more primitive the Scythians become (from an agriculturalist point of view of course) - and the less Hellenised they become, too. If Herodotus were writing only a fictitious novel, as it has been suggested, this variation would have been meaningless. Probably, Herodotus is polemising against Hecataeus, who appears to have collected all North Pontic tribes under one heading.

In the forest steppe zone between Dnepr and Don, archaeologists have excavated numerous fortifications and settlements, and they seem to have depended largely on crops. As archaeology cannot of course determine ethnicity, which is after all a matter of linguistically framed construction, it is impossible to say if those fortifications were in fact inhabited by Scythians. Some researchers claim that only the grass steppe in the south was the home of Iranian-speaking Scythians, and that another population, perhaps Proto-Slavs, inhabited the northern forest steppe. Others focus on the unity of the culture in both areas. A probable scenario is that mounted nomads of Iranian origin settled amongst an agricultural population in the forest steppe zone, and that the two populations formed a cultural and economic symbiosis, which must be called Scythian.

Scythian art is art, primarily decorative objects, such as jewelry, produced by the nomadic tribes in the area known classically as Scythia, which was centred on the Pontic-Caspian steppe and ranged from modern Kazakhstan to the Baltic coast of modern Poland, to Georgia and Armenia.

But the Greeks know to a certainty,

1. That the Celts were in the west of Europe, above Spain; or in Gaul and Britain.
2. That in the North West of Europe, or in present Germany and Scandinavia, were the Scythae; and the Celto-Scythae, or those Scythae in Gaul and Britain, who bordered on the Celts, as the Indo-Scythae did on the Indi.
3. That the Sarmatae were on the North of Greece, to the east of the Scythae of Germany. All which will clearly appear from the following authorities.
1. Herodotus places the Celts quite to the West, and the pillars of Hercules; whereas in his geogra∣phy of Scythia, Book IV. ch. 99. et seq. he evi∣dently supposes that the Scythians spred all over the North West of Europe, even to the Northern ocean, or Baltic. The Agathyrsi, and Geloni, he ranks among the Scythian nations, who united in the general league against Darius, ch. 101. Now Dionysius and Ptolemy place the Agathyrsi and Geloni upon the Baltic sea. We learn from this that the ancient Greeks knew that the Scythae ex∣tended to the utmost north-west extremity of Eu∣rope, or up to Scandinavia.

2. Xenophon, who wrote about 380 years be∣fore Christ, says, in his Memorabilia Socratis, lib. II. §. 10. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉; 'In Europe the Scythians bear sway:' shewing that as the Persians were the ruling people in Asia, so were the Scythae in Europe. Had the Scythians of Europe been regarded by Xenophon as confined to Ancient Scythia, he could not have given them this description; but he palpably understood that they extended into the heart and furthest parts of Europe, and bore universal sway in it.

3. Aristotle, in Meteor. I. 13. says, the Ister, or Danube slowed from the Pyrenees, mountains of Celtica: and De Gen. An. II. 8. he speaks of the cold of Scythia, and adds that the country of the Celts, above Spain, (〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉) is also cold. He, as well as Herodotus, knew that the Celts were confined to Celtic Gaul, and to Britain, for he calls the tin which was brought from Britain, Celtic tin:〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉; 'they say that Celtic tin melts much sooner than lead:' De Mir. Ausc.

4. In the next century, or about 250 years be∣fore Christ, Pytheas, Xenophon Lampsacenus, and Timaeus, authors quoted by Pliny, Nat. Hist. IV. 13. all say that the ile Baltia, or Glessaria, a peninsula of the Prussian coast, in which amber is found, 'lay opposite to Scythia, distant a day or two's sail.' Pliny quotes them separately, and they vary in some points, but all agree in this; which shews to a certainty that the Greeks knew the Scy∣thians to extend to Scandinavia, and over all the north of Germany, as before mentioned: while the Celts were confined to Celtic Gaul and Britain. My plan confines me, else i could convince every reader, that the Greeks, five centuries before Christ, had far more accurate ideas of the Scythic and Celtic nations than Pelloutier, a writer of yester∣day. But it is the property of an over heated imagi∣nation to raise fumes, and darken every subject, while the lumen siccum, or dry light of judgement, pene∣trates and illustrates all. Fancy blends: judgment discriminates. Fancy finds similitudes; judgment dissimilitudes.

The founding of Rome can be investigated through archaeology, but traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves explain the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth. The most familiar of these myths, and perhaps the most famous of all Roman myths, is the story of Romulus and Remus, the twins who were suckled by a she-wolf.[1] This story had to be reconciled with a dual tradition, set earlier in time, that had the Trojan refugee Aeneas escaped to Italy and founded the line of Romans through his son Iulus, the namesake of the Julio-Claudian dynasty.[2]

Brutus, or Brute of Troy, is a legendary descendant of the Trojan hero Aeneas, known in medieval British legend as the eponymous founder and first king of Britain. This legend first appears in the Historia Britonum, a 9th-century historical compilation attributed to Nennius, but is best known from the account given by the 12th century chronicler Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Historia Regum Britanniae. However, he is not mentioned in any classical text and is not considered to be historical.

The area around Ossory were said to have been anciently occupied, according to some interpretations of Ptolemy's 2nd century map, by tribes referred to as the Brigantes, the Cauci and the Usdiae.

Scholars believe that the Laigin pedigree of the Osraige is a fabrication, invented to help them achieve their goals in Leinster. Francis John Byrne suggests that it may date from the time of Cearbhaill mac Dúnlainge.[6]

Examination of the bronze bowl has indicated that it is an example of the central European Fuchsstadt type that is found from Norway to Romania and is dated to 1100-900 BC. The decorated drinking cup is a Jenisovice type which is found in central Europe from Denmark to Romania and is dated to 1000-900 BC. Together the bowl and cup probably formed part of a set of vessels used for drinking wine. The objects belonged to a high status man who may have been associated with Haughey’s fort nearby. The bronzes illustrate the very long distances from which high status objects were acquired in the Late Bronze Age and indicate that Ireland was part of a European-wide network of trade relations.

Lebor Gabála Érenn (The Book of the Taking of Ireland) is the Middle Irish title of a loose collection of poems and prose narratives recounting the mythical origins and history of the Irish from the creation of the world down to the Middle Ages. An important record of the folkloric history of Ireland, it was compiled and edited by an anonymous scholar in the 11th century, and might be described as a mélange of mythology, legend, history, folklore and Christian historiography. It is usually known in English as The Book of Invasions or The Book of Conquests, and in Modern Irish as Leabhar Gabhála Éireann or Leabhar Gabhála na hÉireann.

The Gobán Saor was a highly-skilled smith or architect in Irish history and legend. Gobban Saer (Gobban the Builder) is a figure regarded in Irish traditional lore as an architect of the seventh century, and popularly canonized as St. Gobban. The Catholic Encyclopedia considers him historical and born at Turvey, near Malahide, about 560.
In literary references, he was employed by many Irish saints to build churches, oratories, and bell towers, and he is alluded to in an eighth-century Irish poem, preserved in a monastery in Carinthia. In the "Life of St. Abban" it is said that "the fame of Gobban as a builder in wood as well as stone would exist in Ireland to the end of time."
In Gobán Saor can be seen elements of Goibniu, the Old Irish god of smithcraft.[1] His name can be compared with the Old Irish gobae ~ gobann ‘smith,’ Middle Welsh gof ~ gofein ‘smith,’ Gallic gobedbi ‘with the smiths,’ Latin faber ‘smith’ and with the Lithuanian gabija ‘sacred home fire’ and Lithuanian gabus ‘gifted, clever’.[2]
The Wonder Smith and His Son is a retelling of fourteen tales about the Gobán Saor, by Ella Young; illustrated by Boris Artzybasheff (1927). It was a 1928 Newbery Honor Book. Two of Ella Young's retellings were reprinted by Collier in "The Young Folks Shelf of Books."

In the biography of Moling, the Goban's wife is called Ruaidhseach. and she is there portrayed as a shrewd and calculating woman. The best known of all the legends concerning him can be seen to be a further development on this theme. This, told in folklore throughout Ireland and Gaelic Scotland, relates how the Goban and his son were once engaged on building a great castle for a king in foreign parts. They worked for seven years on the castle, and when it was nearing com pletion the wily king planned to put them to death, lest they might build an equally fine residence for somebody else. The Goban. suspecting the king’s intentions, said that he could not build the final turret without a tool which he had inadvertently left behind him at home. This tool, he said, was called crooked and straight’. The king, unwilling to allow the Goban or his son to depart, sent his own son to Ireland for it, but the name of the sup posed tool was in fact a coded message and when the Goban’s wife heard it she knew that her men folk were in danger. She told the foreign prince that it was in a deep trunk and, when he bent into the trunk to fetch it, she caught his two legs and threw him in. She locked the prince in the trunk, and then sent a message to the foreign king that, if he wished to see his son again, he had better allow her husband and son home. The king had no choice but to comply. The central motif of this legend the outwitting of the selfish magnate by a builder who seeks an imaginary tool was told in connection with various great buildings in western Europe.

Oileán Ruaidh (Irish: red island), anglicised as Island Roy, also called Oileán an Bhráighe (Irish: island of the captive),[1] is a small island in Mulroy Bay, County Donegal,

The sica was a short sword or large dagger of ancient Illyrians, Thracians and Dacians, used in Ancient Rome too, originating in the Halstatt culture. It was originally depicted as a curved sword, (see the Zliten mosaic as well as numerous oil lamps) with a blade about 16-18 inches long (40 – 45 cm) and many examples have been found in what are today Albania, Romania, Bosnia, Bulgaria and Serbia, as well as depicted on the Trajan's Column.

We are told that, when his wife was due to give birth, the Goban was away on business, and she was accompanied by another pregnant woman. The Goban's wife gave birth to a baby girl, while the other woman had a boy. Knowing that the Goban desired a son very much, they exchanged the babies. Time passed, and as the boy grew up the Goban noticed, to his disap pointment, that his ’son’ had inherited little of his own skill and intelligence.

The most popular speculation is that it is from "corb," the old Gaelic for wheel, perhaps designating someone who fought in a cart or chariot as male names are often derived from order of battle. (For instance "Gary, Garth, etc., from "gar" for "spear.") However, some etymologies suggest it derives from the old Gaelic for "raven", a bird laden with mystical meaning for the Celts, and often used to mean "legend" or "legendary".[citation needed] Similarly, it might refer specifically to Corb, one of the legendary Fomorians of Irish mythology.

The area of distribution of gold torcs of the Tara type in Ireland, England and France is very limited, none having been found in Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Holland, or Spain and Portugal.[31] It has been suggested that the gold of which all these torcs were composed came from the Wicklow Mountains,[32] and in view of the extreme wealth of Ireland in gold, as evinced by the number of gold ornaments which are still constantly found, this may be considered probable.

In 1200 BC, the date for several of the torcs in this exhibition, the concept of twisting a bar or a ribbon of gold was first introduced. The two types of torcs predominant in Ireland are the bar torc and the ribbon torc. Nearly one hundred bar torcs have been discovered in Britain, Ireland, and on the continent. In Ireland alone, at least thirty-one bar torcs have been discovered-the most for any one country — primarily in the southern portion of the Leinster province, in Connaught, and along the north-east coast. The process of manufacturing a bar torc involves hammering strips of gold onto a bar of triangular cross-section that may be twisted clockwise. In some instances, the goldsmith twisted a gold wire around the circular bar in order to give the illusion of a more closely twisted torc. Most bar torcs have recurved terminals (the ends of the semi-circular shape that clasp together) that can be made simply or elaborately.

A Middle Bronze Age copper alloy spiral-twisted torc dating in the Taunton period (1400-1250BC). It measures 211mm widthways, 193mm longways and is max.14.95mm thick. It weighs 537g, to the nearest 1g. Adam Gwilt, curator, National Museum of Wales, comments: 'Looking at Ben Roberts's article (PPS 73, 2007) on Ornaments in Britain 1400-1100BC, his listing and distribution maps show that earlier bronze pre-cursors to gold torcs do tend to cluster across parts of southern and eastern England. The Durnford hoard is included in his catalogue and Wiltshire is within his Zone B with tendencies towards frequent gold and bronze spiral twisted torcs'.

The Amphilochians are Epirotae, as also are those nations who inhabit a rugged country situated above and close to the Illyrian mountains, the Molotti, Athamanes, Aethiceas, Tymphaei, Orestae Paroraei, and Atintanes, some of whom approach nearer to Macedonia, others to the Ionian Gulf. It is said that Orestes possessed the territory Orestias at the time of his flight, after the murder of his mother, and left the country bearing his name, where also he had built a city called Orestic Argos. With these people are intermixed Illyrian nations, some of whom are situated on the southern part of the mountainous district, and others above the Ionian Gulf. For above Epidamnus and Apollonia, as far as the Ceraunian mountains, live the Bulliones, Taulantii, Parthini, and Brygi.*

*These nations are mentioned by other authors; they were probably separated by the numerous mountain ridges to the west of Pindus.

Somewhere near are the silver mines of Damnstium. Here the Perisadyes had established their sway, and Enchelii, who are also called Sesarethii. Then come the Lyncestae, the territory Deuriopus, Pelagonia-Tripolitis, the Eordi, Elimia, and Eratyra. Formerly each of these nations was under its own prince. The chiefs of the Enchelii were descendants of Cadmus and Harmonia, and scenes of the fables respecting these persons are shown in the territory. This nation, therefore, was not governed by native princes. The Lyncestae were under Arrhabaeus, who was of the race of the Bacchiadae. Irra was his daughter, and his grand-daughter was Eurydice, the mother of Philip Amyntas.

The Molotti also were Epirotae, and were subjects of Pyrrhus Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles, and of his descendants who were Thessalians. The rest were governed by native princes. Some tribes were continually endeavouring to obtain the mastery over the others, but all were finally defeated by the Macedonians, except a few situated above the Ionian Gulf. They gave the name of Upper Macedonia to the country about Lyncestis, Pelagonia, Orestias, and Elimia. Later writers called it Macedonia the Free, and some extend the name of Macedonia to all the country as far as Corcyra, at the same time assigning as their reasons, the mode of cutting their hair, their language, the use of the chlamys, and similar things in which they resemble the Macedonians; some of them, however, speak two languages. On the dissolution of the Macedonia empire, they fell under the power of the Romans.

Archaeological investigations at the site Kale in Krševica near Bujanovac (southeast Serbia) have revealed in the course of excavations conducted from 2001 to 2005 that it is a unique site in the Južna Morava valley where the significant remains of two civilizations – Greek and Celtic – have been encountered. The most massive layers with buildings, ramparts and other structures as well as abundant finds of imported and local pottery made after Greek models date from the fourth and the first half of the third century BC. Such organized settlement as a single urban centre within wide territory could have attracted the attention of antique writers and as possible identification are quoted the data of Strabo who mentions ‘ancient city’ and Damastium. Later horizon yielded pottery characteristic of the Late La Tène production in the territory of Scordisci and of local shapes from the neighbouring areas. Remains of fortification at the acropolis turned out to be in the second / first century BC important stronghold used by the Scordisci and other barbarians in their plundering campaigns against the Romans in Macedonia as is witnessed in the antique sources.

Doesn't seem like it exists only in Serbian.

The Book of Invasions is as much christian mythology as Irish and is an attempt to link Irish christianity with ancient christianity.

There is no link to haplogroup I and physical features, zero. A haplogroup and it's clades are defined by 1 mutation on a tiny part of the y chromosome in the entire genome.

the folks at iarcuri were cruceni-belegis which is the vattina culture. it is this culture that is accused of being the destroyers of the greek cities and the troad at the time of the sea people raids/trojan war. if you can find a bunch of maps of the sea peoples activities, check where most of them have their migrations beginning from. being vattina does not limit one to 1450-1250bc as the term trojan princes suggests.

have you considered the irish leaving central europe around 3000 bc, building up their numbers in ireland and sending a large contingent back to their homeland to get even with their former tormentors?

nteresting indeed...

in continuation the word ''ba'' in Chinese has the following meaning:

把 - bǎ - to hold / to contain / to grasp / to take hold of / handle
把 - bà - handle
八 - bā - eight (8)
巴 - Bā - state during Zhou dynasty
巴 - Bā - to long for / to wish / to cling to / to stick to / sth that sticks / close to / next to / spread open
爸爸 - bàba - father
霸 - bà - hegemon / tyrant / lord / feudal chief / to rule by force / to usurp /
拔 - bá - to pull up / to pull out / to draw out by suction / to select / to pick / to stand out (above level) / to surpass / to seize
扒 - bā - to hold on to / to cling to / to dig up / to rake / to push aside / to climb / to pull out / to strip off

Interesting that both in Chinese and Turkish ''baba'' means father, head of the family... Whereas in Bulgarian, bashta (баща) means father and baba (баба) means grandmother (same in other Slavic languages). It could be that in Bulgaria in past it was the mother earth who was the supreme God, and therefore the woman had significant role in society.

巴山 - Bāshān - means ''ba'' in eastern Sichuan (China)

山 - Shàn - mountain / hill / anything that resembles a mountain
闪 - Shǎn - to dodge / to duck out of the way / shaken (by a fall) / to sprain / to pull a muscle / lightning / spark / a flash / to flash
善 - shàn - good (virtuous) / benevolent / well-disposed / good at sth / to improve or perfect
删 - shān - to delete
扇 - shān - to fan / to slap sb on the face
扇 - shàn - an / sliding, hinged or detachable flat part of sth / classifier for doors, windows

杀 - shā - to kill / to murder / to fight / to weaken or reduce / to smart (dialect) / to counteract / (used after a verb) extremely
刹 - shā - to brake
煞 - shā - to terminate / to cut short / to squeeze / to tighten / to reduce / extremely

山 - means mountain

In Bulgarian we also have the expression of ''bash (баш)'' meaning great, big ... thus ''bashta (баща)'' (a father) will mean great, big father

We also have common expression of ''bashtin (бащин)'' an adjective meaning home, or something that belong to you - like your father's home

the character ''山'' visually resembles cyrillic letters ''Ш, ш'' and ''Щ, щ''

this relates father and mountain which literally means that the mountain is your father, or like in paganism that the supreme god is mother earth / mountain; the mountain is also a protection like the father protects his family

爬山 - páshān - to climb a mountain / to mountaineer / hiking / mountaineering

In Bulgarian we use word ''pasha'' (паша) meaning pasturage and is usually used as a verb. to take the animals for grazing/feeding in the fields/mountain

毒殺 - dúshā - kill by by poisoning = dusha (душа) to kill, suffocate (in Bulgarian)

dusha (душа) also means ''a soul'' in Bulgarian, or duh (дух) ''a spirit''

獨 - dú - lone / independent / single / sole / only
堵 - dǔ - to stop up / (to feel) stifled or suffocated / wall / classifier for walls
渡 - dù - to cross / to pass through / to ferry

都 - dū - capital city / metropolis
都會 - dūhuì - society / community / city / metropolis
都市 - dūshì - city / metropolis


Moreover,

八仙 - Bā Xiān - the Eight Immortals

仙山 - xiānshān - mountain of Immortals

the ''山'' character is repeated twice here ... so its meaning is both ''mountain'' and ''immortal''

Moreover,

八仙 - Bā Xiān - the Eight Immortals

仙山 - xiānshān - mountain of Immortals

the ''山'' character is repeated twice here ... so its meaning is both ''mountain'' and ''immortal''

If we look at the Rozette from Pliska (Bulgaria)

we can see signs similar to ''仙山''

the beam under the Sun starts with a cross from the bottom followed by another sign both resembling ''仙'' if we look it upside down meaning ''immortality''. Right at the center there is the same sign which if looked upside down resembles ''山''.

In conclusion, the rozete has 7 beams and one central sign in the middle, together they make up the eight immortals

Early Irish law recognized a number of degrees of agnatic kinship, based on a belief that there was common male ancestor. The closest kin group that is defined is gelfine (bright-kin)—descendants of a common grandfather (including the grandfather's relationships to his descendants and his children). This is followed by the derbfine (certain-kin)—descendants of a common great grandfather, iarfine (after-kin)—descendants of a common great great grandfather, and the indfine (end-kin), all of which contain the old Irish word for kin or family, fine.[51] The derbfine is, by far, the kin-group most commonly mentioned.[52]
One member of the kin-group was its leader, known either as ágae fine (pillar of the family) or cenn fine (head [literally] of the family). He apparently was a senior member selected from the kin-group based on various qualifications. One of his main duties was to take responsibility for members of the kin-group, acting as a surety for some of the actions of members, making sure debts are paid (including for murder). If the member could not be made to pay, the fee was normally be paid by members of the kin. He was also responsible for unmarried women after the death of their fathers.[53]
As mentioned above, the actions of a member could require other kin to pay a fine. However, in certain cases the kin-group could refuse liabilities, although in some cases only after they been proclaimed as a non-member, which might occur if the member did not carry out his responsibilities to the kin. One particularly heinous crime in early Irish law was fingal (kin-slaying), because it was against a group that had some right to trust. The killer had to give up their kin-land, but was still liable for fines incurred by other members of the kin.[54] An undutiful son might also be excluded from certain kin rights as well, especially as sons of a living father generally did not have significant rights of legal actions except as permitted by the father.[55]

A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clan members may be organized around a founding member or apical ancestor. The kinship-based bonds may be symbolical, whereby the clan shares a "stipulated" common ancestor that is a symbol of the clan's unity.

From ancient times Irish society was organised around traditional kinship groups or clans....Under Brehon Law the leaders of Irish clans were appointed by their kinsmen as custodians of the clan and were responsible for maintaining and protecting their clan and its property...

...Related Irish clans often belong to larger groups, sometimes called tribes, such as the Dál gCais, Uí Néill, Uí Fiachrach, and Uí Maine. Recently, the late Edward MacLysaght...


...Often, clans are thought of as based on blood kinship alone; in fact Irish clans would be better thought of as akin to the modern-day corporation.[5] Their ruling structure, whether ruled by a single lord or a council, changed according to needs and the qualities of their membership. As with a modern corporation, the power of clans grew and shrank. Once-powerful clans could in time decline in stature and be amalgamated into once-smaller ones. How this "merger" would be dealt with would be a matter of negotiation based on the respective power of each party. Consequently, Irish clans were composed of those who were related by blood but also by those who were adopted and fostered into the clan as well as those who joined the clan for strategic reasons such as safety or combining of lands and resources....

In the distant past the term tuath signified a clan or tribal family. In later times it came to mean a unit of territory namely the ancestral or patrimonial lands of a tribe or tribal grouping. The tuath could be described as the smallest unit of land over which a local taoiseach or clan chief exercised control.

Early Slav society is often said to have been egalitarian and based around family clans, as noted by Procopius description of Slavic “democracy”. No individual held permanent power; however, brave and influential chiefs would arise during periods of conflict. When the conditions which brought them to power subsided, so too did their power. A slow process of consolidation occurred between the 7th and 9th centuries. During this period, the previously uniform Slav cultural area formed into more discrete zones. Various Slavic groups were to be influenced by more 'advanced' neighbouring cultures such as Byzantium, the Khazars, Vikings and the Carolingians, although these processes should not be necessarily thought to be unidirectional.[94]
Gradually, there developed increasing evidence of differentiation of status within the organizations, leading to class divisions and the development of centralized socio-political organizations. Perhaps, the first rudiments of higher organizations were temporary pan-tribal warrior associations. We have the greatest evidence for this in the Danubian area, where various barbarian elements organized around military chiefs for the purpose of raiding Byzantine territory and defending themselves against Avars.[95] Gradually, a higher degree of social stratification developed- that of a chiefdom, associated with the development of inherited inequality in personal status and centralization of power. Chiefdoms often contained fortified sites to back up their authority, a feature first seen in west Slavic areas. The chief was supported by a retinue of high-status warriors who owed their positions to the chief. As chiefdoms grew powerful and expanded, centres of subsidiary power were created, ruled by lesser chiefs. It is difficult to draw the line between the powerful chiefs of "developed chiefdoms" and the princes who ruled centralized Medieval "states". By the mid-9th century, Slavic elite attained a high level of sophistication. They wore luxurious clothing, rode on horseback, hunted with falcons and travelled with a retinue of soldiers.[96]

Settlements were not uniformly distributed, but tended to form clusters separated by areas where settlement density falls.[100] The clustering was a result of the expansion of single settlements. These 'settlement cells' were therefore linked by family or clan relationships. Settlement cells formed the basis of the simplest form of territorial organization, known as a zupa in South Slavic, or opole in Polish. For example, Primary Chronicle noted that “the men of the Polanie lived each with his own clan in his own place”. There were several such zupa containing the territorial confines of individual clans, which together formed the known tribes. “The complex processes initiated by the Slav expansion and subsequent demographic and ethnic consolidation culminated in the formation of tribal groups, which later coalesced to create state which form the framework of the ethnic make-up of modern eastern Europe”.

The Slavic population lived basically from farming and livestock raising and was organized into territorial communes whose basic unit was the family. The communes were headed by tribal leaders who, in turn, were supported by their retinues (druzhyny). During the Old Slavic period the Slavs of the Upper Tisza Region lived in what might be called the stage of military democracy. At the end of the eighth and in the early ninth centuries political structures in the form of tribal unions began to develop, centered around protected hill forts such as Sarisske Sokolovce, Smizany, Zemplin, Brekov, Uzhhorod, Vary, and Solotvyno. Some of these had already been established by the earlier Thracian and Celtic settlers but reinforced by the Slavs with earthen ramparts, moats, and palisades; others were built anew. The Slavic tribal unions continued to exist until the creation of early medieval states throughout central and eastern Europe.

The basic social unit was the nuclear family, consisting of parents and their children, which had to fit in a dwelling area of several to 25 square meters. The big family, a patriarchal, multi-generational group of related families, a kin or clan, was of declining importance during the discussed period. A larger group was needed in the past (5th–7th centuries) for forest clearing and burning undertakings, when farming communities had to shift from location to location; in the 8th-century mature—settled phase of agriculture, a family was sufficient to take care of their arable land.[54] A concept of agricultural land ownership was gradually developing, being at this point a matter of family, not individual prerogative. Several or more clan territories were grouped into a neighborhood association, or "opole", which established a rudimentary self-government. Such community was the owner of forested land, pastures, bodies of water and within it the first organizing around common projects and related development of political power took place. A big and resourceful opole could become, by extending its possessions, a proto-state entity vaguely referred to as the tribe.[55] The tribe was the top level of this structure, containing several opoles and controlling a region of several hundred up to about 1500 square kilometers, where internal relationships were arbitrated and external defense organized.[46]
A general assembly of all tribesmen present took care of the most pressing of issues (Thietmar of Merseburg wrote in the early 11th century of the Veleti, Polabian Slavs, that their assembly kept deliberating till everybody agreed), but this "war democracy" was gradually being replaced by a government system in which the tribal elders and rulers had the upper hand. This development facilitated the coalescing of tribes into great tribes, some of which under favorable conditions would later become tribal states. The communal and tribal democracy, with self-imposed contributions by the community members, survived in small entities and local territorial subunits the longest; on a larger scale it was being replaced by the rule of able leaders and then dominant families, ultimately leading inevitably to hereditary transition of supreme power, mandatory taxation, service etc.[56] When social and economic evolution reached this level, the concentration of power was facilitated and made possible to sustain by parallel development of a professional military force (called at this stage "drużyna") at the ruler's or chief's disposal.[46][57]

The territory ruled or administered by a voivode is known as a voivodeship. In the English language, the title is often translated as "prince" or "duke". In Slavic terminology, the rank of a voivode is considered equal of that of a German Herzog. A Voivode was often considered to be an assistant of the Knyaz. During military actions voivode was in charge of a conscripted army that consisted of local population, voj (voi); while knyaz had its own regular military formation, druzhina...
The term derives from Slavic voi or vojsko (militia) + vodi (to lead), and thus originally meant warlord (see Voyi)...
The tradition of electing a voivode is very old and dates back to the times of the early Slavs. Each tribe gathered at a veche (congregation) to elect its own voivode. In war, he was entitled to lead the army. When the war was over, the power reverted to the legitimate peacetime ruler — be it the veche or a prince.
By the end of 8th century, the Slavic tribes established the first organised states in Central and Eastern Europe. The new situation demanded a more flexible command over the state, especially during the conflicts with Turkic, Baltic and German peoples. At that time, the power of the voivode was in most cases extended to include civil command and, in some instances, to religious authority. The chiefs of the tribes, princes and hospodars, delegated part of their authority to lower-ranking voivodes, while retaining the title of highest voivode and the positions of high priest and supreme judge.
With the creation of permanent Slavic states in Kievan Rus', in Bohemia and Poland, the highest authority was passed to dukes and princes. In Kievan Rus', these came from the Varangian nobles (Rurik Dynasty), while in Bohemia (Přemyslids) and Poland (Piast Dynasty) they were of local origin. The basis of the power of a prince was his band of warriors or druzhina. Initially a small group of professional soldiers, the druzhina grew in order to control the vast areas under authority of the prince. In time, the need to split the army into several units became clear and the commander of such a unit was called prince's voivode.
The highest ranking of such voivodes formed the princes' courts, while others commanded the troops in distant towns and served as advisors to the prince's delegates. In medieval Russia voyevoda was the governor of a border fortress or town. The rank was abolished by Peter the Great in the mid-18th century.

Fianna (singular fian) were small, semi-independent warrior bands in Irish mythology and Scottish mythology, most notably in the stories of the Fenian Cycle, where they are led by Fionn mac Cumhaill. They are based on historical bands of landless young men in early medieval Ireland known as kerns....Geoffrey Keating, in his 17th-century History of Ireland, says that during the winter the fianna were quartered and fed by the nobility, during which time they would keep order on their behalf, but during the summer, from Beltaine to Samhain, they were obliged to live by hunting for food and for pelts to sell.[3]

In the most ancient time of the foundation of the ruling government in Serbia there was almost no court order since the court life was not developed. The life of a ruler differed very little from that of his compatriots. As there was no real court, there could be no court glow, titles and ceremonies.
It was not until the 12th century that it was possible to follow the development of the nobility in Serbia, which, in the beginning, was very similar to that of the Venetian’s and Byzantine’s. With the stabilization of the government, the court order and customs were gradually modeling, thanks also to the fact that young men from well-to-do families were sent to Constantinople where they familiarized themselves with the solemn court glow and ceremonies.
In the most ancient period, the state ruler held a title of Župan (district prefect; Zhupan) or Veliki Župan (Grand Zhupan). These titles originated from the period when one person ruled a tribe or district, respectively, that is a limited area. When districts united, the first Serbian state was founded, and its ruler held the title of Župan or Veliki Zupan, respectively. However, at that time the idea of a state was not firmly established. It is clear from a number of evidences that by the end of the Middle Ages the term “state” simply referred to ”zemlja” (“land”) or often “zemlja otačastva mi” (“a land of my fatherhood”), “od otaca mojih” (“of my fathers”). This is also apparent from the Legal Code of Emperor Stefan Dušan. Every person of noble birth was simply Gospodar (Master). The naming practice was not developed(* and there was no need for coats of arms. Later, the titles of Knez (Prince) and Kralj (King) originated from the above stated titles

The end of the sixth century was a period of increasing competition among Sclavene leaders. The author of the Strategikon knew that there were many Sclavene "kings," "always at odds with each other" (XI 4.30), a useful political detail for any Roman general who may have found himself in a position to make war against any of them. What were the stakes of this competition, we can only guess. The archaeological evidence, however, suggests that shortly before and after 600 A.D. symbols of personal identity came into higher demand. At this time bow fibulae found in Romania (Figure 4), Crimea, and Mazuria display the greatest number of links in their ornamental patterns. Long-distance connections signalized by those links, as well as the display of different patterns on various groups of bow fibulae point to social competition.54 If, as suggested, the intrasite distribution of artifacts on sixth- and seventh-century sites can be associated with competitive feasting, which was a typical feature for big-man leadership, we may be able to visualize some aspects of this competition. War, however, was the overwhelming concern of those whom the author of the Strategikon viewed as unable to fight in ordered battle, but who, nevertheless, were extremely skillful at ambushing Roman troops. That Slavic society was geared up for warfare is evident from the significant number of weapons, especially arrow- and spear-heads, which have been found on sixth- to seventh-century sites in Romania, Moldova, and Ukraine. This further suggests that the evidence of destruction by fire occasionally found on those sites is the result of inter-group conflicts. After all, as the author of the Strategikon observed, in the Slavic "democracy," "nobody is willing to yield to another" (XI 4.14)

Lake Dwellings, sometimes called Alpine Lake Dwellings or Pile Dwellings (Pfahlbauten in German), are a type of house found in villages at lakeshores in the Alps or other mountainous regions. They range in date between the early Neolithic through Iron Age villages and, because of their location at lake margins often exhibit excellent preservation of organic materials.

Lake dwellings are perhaps more properly called pile dwellings, because they represented houses that were erected atop wooden pilings pounded into the ground and sometimes supported by a web of horizontal pilings to anchor the structures. Lakeside homes were attractive to their residents, particularly in the mountains, because they were located in places where a wide variety of food and other resources could be retrieved from nearby. People who lived in the lake dwelling settlements practiced animal husbandry and farming, as well as relied on hunting and fishing.

The pile-dwellings (lake-dwellings) in Macedonia were first mentioned by Herodotus (V, 16) who describes a pile-dwelling at the Prasiad lake (Butkovsko or Dojran lake?). Lake Ohrid, together with Lake Prespa, represents a remnant of the large neogene Dasaret lake and belongs to the Adriatic basin. With the previous investigations, a diluvial terrace was discovered, 10 to 12 metres above the today’s lake water level, beside which a shoreline was confirmed, 4 metres above the present lake level. Lake Ohrid had lower water levels in the past. This is verified through preserved traces, archaeological remains and other data, as well as through legends. Historians, chronologists, travel writers, and researchers have all left behind data on the basis of which records were created of various types of archaeological treasures from the waters of the lake....All these sites abound with mobile archaeological material, which chronologically belonged to the final phases of the New Stone Age (the Neolithic period), as well as to the Copper, Bronze and Iron Ages of the prehistoric epoch....

The Alvastra pile-dwelling (Swedish: Alvastra pålbyggnad or Alvastraboplatsen) is a pile dwelling (also called a stilt house) from ca 3000 BC in Ödeshög Municipality, Östergötland County, Sweden. Southern Scandinavia has many types of cult centres, but the Alvastra pile dwelling is unique in Northern Europe and is the only of its kind outside of the Alpine Pile Dweller culture. It was the seasonal social and religious centre of a tribe that left objects from the Funnelbeaker culture, but pottery from the Pitted Ware culture, in the dwelling. Ca 2/3 of the pile dwelling was excavated by archaeologists in the years 1908–18, 1928–39 and 1976–80.

In the region identified by Ptolemy and Pliny, east of the Vistula and adjoining the Baltic, there was an Iron Age culture, known to archaeologists as the West Baltic Cairns Culture or West Baltic Barrow Culture, shown coloured violet on the map given here. The culture is associated with the Proto-Balts, who kept this area for almost two thousand years, avoiding adoption of new ideas from their neighbours. These herders lived in small settlements or in little lake dwellings built on artificial islands made of several layers of wooden logs attached by stakes. Their metals were imported, and their dead were cremated and put in urns covered by small mounds.[11]
In the Post-War era Polish archaeologists generally interpreted the Veneti as the possible bearers of the Pomeranian culture, an Iron Age archaeological culture in Poland to the west of the Vistula, despite the clear location of the Veneti in Roman sources to the east of the Vistula. This identification can still be found in the work of Polish authors of the 1980s and 1990s,[12] although more recent Polish authors tend to reject it.[13]

Archaeologists from the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń found remains of an artificial island from early medieval times on the lake Paklicko Wielkie near Nowy Dworek (Lubuskie), Lubuskie conservator Barbara Bielinis-Kopeć told PAP.
"It is only so-called scaffolding settlement known in our country. The artificial island was connected to the mainland by a wooden bridge with a length of at least 80 meters, a width of three meters. Both the bridge and the island structure can be dated back to VIII-IX century" - Bielinis-Kopeć told PAP.
Based on research conducted from the surface and under water, the researchers found that the artificial island was built in the shallower part of the reservoir, located about 120 meters from the shore. Within it, on the surface of several acres, a scaffolding had been built of oak and pine, and gradually overbuilt with the water table raising. On the island researchers discovered numerous historical objects, mostly pottery fragments and animal bones.
This is another interesting find made by Toruń archaeologists in Lubuskie waters. Two years ago, on the lake Niesłysz scientists discovered bridge relics dating back to 940’s, which in light of current research is considered the oldest bridge in our country, and at the same time one of the most complete and best preserved in Slavic areas.
The oak bridge with a length of about 100 m and a width of 4 m on the lake Niesłysz connected mainland with the island on the lake, which was a place of worship.

A crannog (Irish: crannóg; Scottish Gaelic: crannag) is typically a partially or entirely artificial island, usually built in lakes, rivers and estuarine waters of Scotland and Ireland. Unlike the prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps which were built on the shores and were only inundated later on, crannogs were built in the water, thus forming artificial islands....In reality, crannogs took on many different forms and methods of construction based upon what was available in the immediate landscape; there is no single "correct" way to construct a crannog.

...The earliest construction of a crannog is the completely artificial Neolithic islet of Eilean Domhnuill, Loch Olabhat on North Uist in Scotland. Eilean Domhnuill[9] has produced radiocarbon dates ranging from 3650 to 2500 BC[6] while Irish crannogs appear from middle Bronze Age layers at Ballinderry (1200–600 BC).[51] Prior to the Bronze Age, the existence of artificial island settlement in Ireland is not as clear. While lake-side settlements are evident in Ireland from 4500BC these settlements are not crannogs in that they were not intended to be islands. Despite having a tremendous chronology, their use was not at all consistent or unchanging. Crannog construction and occupation reached a floruit in Scotland from approximately 800BC to AD200.[7] Not surprisingly, crannogs have useful defensive properties, although there appears to be more significance to prehistoric use than simple defense as very few weapons or evidence for destruction appear in excavations of prehistoric crannogs. In Ireland, crannogs tend to reach a floruit during the Early Historic period[1] when they were the homes and retreats of kings, lords, prosperous farmers and occasionally socially marginalised groups such as monastic hermits or metalsmiths who could work in isolation. However, despite earlier concepts of a strict Early Historic evolution,[2] Irish excavations are increasingly uncovering examples which date to the 'missing' Iron Age in Ireland.[48]...

...Crannogs are widespread in Ireland with an estimated 1,200 examples[15] while Scotland "officially" contains 347 sites listed as such.[16] The actual number in Scotland varies considerably—between approximately 350 to 500 due to the use of the term "island dun" for well over one hundred Hebridean examples—a distinction that has created a divide between mainland Scottish crannog and Hebridean islet settlement studies.[17][18] Previously unknown crannogs in Scotland and Ireland are still being found as underwater surveys continue to investigate loch beds for completely submerged examples[19] The largest concentrations of crannogs in Ireland are found in the Drumlin Belt of the midlands, the north and the northwest. In Scotland, crannogs favour a western or 'Atlantic distribution', with high concentrations in Argyll and Dumfries and Galloway.[7][20] In reality, the Western Isles contains the highest density of lake-settlement in Scotland, yet they are recognised under varying terms besides crannog.[21] One lone Welsh example at Llangorse Lake exists, likely a product of Irish influence across the Irish Sea[22]...

As a result of the battle of Maigh Nuadad in 123 A.D., where he was defeated by Eoghan Mor (also known as Mug Nuadat, Conn was forced by Eoghan to accede to the division of Ireland into two halves:

The North - taking in Connacht, Ulster and Meath - would be Conn's Half
The South - taking in Munster, Osraighe and Leinster - would be Eoghan's Half.

The Cruthin (Old Irish, IPA: [ˈkɾˠʊθʲɪn̠ʲ]; Middle Irish Cruithnig or Cruithni; Modern Irish: Cruithne [Irish pronunciation: [ˈkɾˠɪhn̠ʲə]]) were a people of early Ireland, who occupied parts of Counties Down, Antrim and Londonderry in the early medieval period.
Their ruling dynasties included the Dál nAraidi in southern Antrim and the Uí Echach Cobo in western Down. Early sources preserve a distinction between the Cruthin and the Ulaid, who gave their name to the province of Ulster, although the Dál nAraide claimed in their genealogies to be na fir Ulaid, "the true Ulaid".[1] The Loígis, who gave their name to County Laois in Leinster, and the Sogain of Connacht are also claimed as Cruthin in early Irish genealogies.[2]

Early Irish writers used the name Cruthin to refer to both the north-eastern Irish group and to the Picts of Scotland.[5] Likewise, the Scottish Gaelic word for a Pict is Cruithen or Cruithneach, and for Pictland is Cruithentúath.[7] It has thus been suggested that the Cruthin and Picts were the same people or were in some way linked.[1] Professor T. F. O'Rahilly proposed that the Qritani/Pritani were the first Celtic group to inhabit Britain and Ireland, and describes them as, "the earliest inhabitants of these islands to whom a name can be assigned".[8] It has also been suggested that Cruthin was a name used to refer to all the Britons who were not conquered by the Romans – those who lived outside Roman Britannia, north of Hadrian's Wall.[6]

All uses of the word "Lochlann" relate it to Nordic realms of Europe. While the traditional view has identified Laithlind with Norway, some have preferred to locate it in a Norse-dominated part of Scotland, perhaps the Hebrides or the Northern Isles.[1] Donnchadh Ó Corráin states that Laithlinn was the name of Viking Scotland, and that a substantial part of Scotland—the Northern and Western Isles and large areas of the coastal mainland from Caithness and Sutherland to Argyle—was conquered by the Vikings in the first quarter of the ninth century and a Viking kingdom was set up there earlier than the middle of the century.[2] In relation to the debate about Lochlann's location, it is noteworthy that the Port an Eilean Mhòir viking ship burial discovered in the Ardnamurchan peninsula of western Scotland contained a whetstone from Norway and a bronze ringpin from Ireland.[3]

Whatever the meaning of Laithlind and Lochlann in Ireland in the ninth and tenth centuries, it may have referred to Norway later. In 1058 Magnus Haraldsson is called "the son of the king of Lochlann", and his nephew Magnus Barefoot is the "king of Lochlann" in the Irish πreports of the great western expedition four decades later.[23]

Magnus II Haraldsson (1048–1069) was King of Norway from 1066 to 1069...Father: Harald III of Norway...

Sigurd Syr (Old Norse: Sigurðr Sýr) (died 1018) was a Norwegian petty king of Ringerike, a region in Buskerud. By his marriage with Åsta Gudbrandsdatter, he was the father of King Harald Hardrada and stepfather of King Olaf the Saint. His nickname "Syr" can be translated as meaning "sow". The reason for this is unknown;

The traditional view of Sigurd Syr's pedigree, as presented in various Icelandic poems and historical sagas culminating in Snorri Sturluson's Heimskringla, is that he was a great-grandson of King Harald Fairhair, through Harald's son Sigurd Hrise.[2] However, many modern historians regard the Fairhair genealogy as in large part invented.[3] Sigurd's father Halfdan may not have been Halfdan of Hadafylke, Harald's grandson;[4] there are no contemporary attestations of such a Halfdan. Doubt has also been cast on Sigurd Rise, a relatively obscure son of Harald Fairhair by a Sami girl named Snæfrid.[5]

In Heimskringla it is written that Harald succeeded, on the death of his father Halfdan the Black Gudrödarson, to the sovereignty of several small, and somewhat scattered kingdoms in Vestfold, which had come into his father's hands through conquest and inheritance. His protector-regent was his mother's brother Guthorm.

In Scotland, crannogs favour a western or 'Atlantic distribution', with high concentrations in Argyll and Dumfries and Galloway.[7][20] In reality, the Western Isles contains the highest density of lake-settlement in Scotland, yet they are recognised under varying terms besides crannog.

In the main, Viking Scotland comprised the Northern and Western Isles, Caithness, Sutherland and Inverness. Known severally as Lothlend, Laithlinn or Lochlainn (depending on which source you read), this area was comprehensively settled by Norse Vikings by the early ninth century. By mid-century it had created its own royal dynasty no longer directly connected to the Vestfold in Norway, and by the end of the ninth century this dynasty had made Dublin its main headquarters, from where it waged war on the indigenous Irish kings. Tribute was also collected from Picts and Scots on the mainland of Scotland, and when they were expelled from Dublin in 902 C.E. the Vikings there returned to Scotland. Following various engagements and battles, York was conquered and the kingdom of Dublin re-founded in 917 C.E. It has been postulated elsewhere that Olaf the White, Norse king of Dublin in the mid-ninth century, was in fact of Hebridean birth or ancestry. Dublin (and other places in Ireland) were now being used as bases to loot and plunder both Irish and English monasteries and their hinterlands, but not the Hebrides. From this it may be inferred that the Scottish islands and Highland coastal regions were by now areas not seen as targets, but so settled by the Norse and their ensuing generations that they were now capable of providing the raiding parties themselves. Summer raids were regularly mounted from here to Ireland, England and the north-west coasts of the continent.

The history of Dál Riata, while unknown before the middle of the 6th century, and very unclear after the middle of the 8th century, is relatively well recorded in the intervening two centuries, although many questions remain unanswered. As has been said, the origins of the link between Dál Riata in Scotland and Ireland are obscure. What is not in doubt is that Irish Dál Riata was a lesser kingdom of Ulaid. The Kingship of Ulster was dominated by the Dál Fiatach and contested by the Cruithne kings of the Dál nAraidi.[35]

If the Vikings had a great impact on Pictland and in Ireland, in Dál Riata, as in Northumbria, they appear to have entirely replaced the existing kingdom with a new entity. In the case of Dál Riata this was to be known as the kingdom of the Sudreys, traditionally founded by Ketil Flatnose (Caitill Find in Gaelic) in the middle of the 9th century. The Frankish Annales Bertiniani may record the conquest of the Inner Hebrides, the seaward part of Dál Riata, by Vikings in 847.[51]
Alex Woolf has suggested that there occurred a formal division of Dál Riata between the Norse-Gaelic Uí Ímair and the natives, like those divisions that took place elsewhere in Ireland and Britain, with the Norse controlling most of the islands, and the Gaels controlling the Scottish coast and the more southerly islands. In turn Woolf suggests that this gave rise to the terms Airer Gaedel and Innse Gall, respectively "the coast of the Gaels" and the "Islands of the foreigners".[52]

Dál nAraidi (sometimes Latinised as Dalaradia — which should not be confused with Dál Riata, Latinised as Dalriada) was a kingdom of the Cruthin (Irish Cruithni) in the north-east of Ireland in the first millennium. The lands of the Dál nAraidi appear to correspond with the Robogdii of Ptolemy's Geographia, a region shared with Dál Riata. Fiachu Araide was the eponymous founder of the Dál nAraidi.
It was centred on the northern shores of Lough Neagh in southern Antrim. Dál nAraidi was the second kingdom of Ulster, and its kings contended with the Dál Fiatach for the high-kingship for some centuries. It is doubtful whether the Dál nAraidi kingdom existed, except as a loose confederation of small kingdoms, until the 8th century, long after the Cruithne kings had ceased to have any real control over the high-kingship of Ulster.

New discoveries made during the first ever substantial excavation of a crannog in Northern Ireland - an artificial island in a lake – in Co Fermanagh, are shedding dramatic new light on life in medieval Ireland, and its connections to the wider world. The “dig” is of growing international significance and is rewriting our understanding of medieval history.

The additional meanings of crannog can be variously related as "structure/piece of wood; wooden pin; crow's nest; pulpit; driver's box on a coach and vessel/box/chest" for crannóg.