A sign of identity, power, and protection. Some remarks on the nonmilitary role of shields in the Przeworsk culture in the Early and Middle Roman Periods

Abstract

Our knowledge of shields in Celto-Germanic societies north of the Danube River -especially among people of the Przeworsk culture, the most 'militarized' archaeological culture in this part of Barbaricum -comes mainly from archaeological sources dated to the beginning of the Roman Period (mainly the first three centuries AD), as well as ancient texts (especially Tacitus' works). However, due to the incompleteness of material relics (lack of wooden elements, etc.) and difficulties in interpretation of Roman references (as a result of their propaganda character, literary qualities), the sources are highly fragmented. It is therefore crucial to find archaeological analogies from different regions, and other kinds of sources, in order to come to know not only the appearance of barbarians' shields, but primarily their sociocultural importance. As well, some ethnographic and historical analogies (relating to the Celtic, Anglo-Saxon or Norse cultures of the early medieval period) can be also taken as an explanation of ritual and symbolic functions of shields, and ways in which inhabitants of Central Europe could have used them in their ritualized forms of behaviour during the Roman period. Shields, as it turns out, were intended to signal identity of members of a retinue, family, or clan, to protect a warrior in combat, and to ward off evil (for example, by using them as apotropaic objects in funerary rituals), as well as to emphasize high social position, power and prestige of individuals. Finally, richly decorated shields could have served as valuable goods in ritual gift-exchange.