Istvánovits Eszter (szerk.): A nyíregyházi Jósa András Múzeum Évkönyve 55. (Nyíregyháza, 2013)

A 2010. október 11-14. között Nyíregyházán és Szatmárnémetiben megtartott Vándorló és letelepült barbárok a kárpáti régióban és a szomszédos területeken (I-V. század) Új leletek, új értelmezések című nemzetközi régészeti konferencia anyagai - Sorin Bulzan: Császárkori (II-III. századi) telep a Berettyó völgyében Margine/Széltalló, "Valea Tániei-Tarina+ (Bihar megye, Románia)

Ivan Bugarski - Vujadin Ivanisevic

Srem region near Singidunum (Procopius De bellis II. 15.30, III.33.13), an area bordered by the Ostrogoths and the Romans. To this horizon some authors ascribe the Jakovo-Kormadin cemetery (Bóna 1987. 122, cf. Milinkovic 2005. 213), at first attributed to the Gepids (Dimitrijevic I960.).

As a consequence of their massive looting, Emperor Anastasius had to punish the Heruli. The Byzantine expedition was successful and, judging by an account that Emperor Justinian made them allies, the Heruli were pacified. They got gifts and lands, and afterwards had been joining Byzantine expeditions, as foederati, in return. It is well known that the Heruli fought on the Vandal, Gothic and Persian fronts, and that they were also sent to suppress the Nika riot in Constantinople (Procopius De bellis II. 14.33-36). Around 545, the Byzantine general Narses engaged some 4,500 mercenaries from the Singidunum area, so it could be calculated that the Heruli with their families numbered some 20,000-25,000. It seems that this significant population must have settled in the Singidunum area as xymmaxoi (Procopius De bellis VI. 14.14), but also in the neighbouring lands along the Danube frontier. Alexander Sarantis has recently pointed to the importance of the engagement of the Barbarians in the defence of the Empire, and especially to the foederati agreement with the Heruli (Sarantis 2010., Sarantis 2011.).

So, if Germanic finds with Scandinavian parallels from the Serbian Danube region were to be dated to the opening two thirds of the 6th century, if not even a little later, then it would be reasonable to follow the option offered and to attribute them to the Heruli. The same could also be true for Kovin. According to Attila Kiss (1984. 136), stamped ceramic wares from Northern Serbia, as listed by Katica Simoni (1978. 214-215), also testify to the presence of the Heruli. However, this cannot be accepted without any reservations. If these or other finds — like the graves from Kamenovo, for which both possibilities are still open - were to be dated after 567, the second solution is more probable, i.e. in that case they could have belonged to other German mercenaries (cf. Ivanisevic et al. 2006. 133-136). The fact that with the arrival of the Avars the Heruli disappeared from the written sources (Schwarcz 2005. 512) may testify to that effect on the one hand, and support the above estimation of the nature of their social composition on the other.

Judging by the numerous 6th century Germanic cemeteries and finds of their material culture from the Srem region to Singidunum, Margum, Contra Margum and Viminacium, it may easily be concluded that the Barbarians played a significant role in the defence of the northern areas of the Empire. Beyond any doubt, the Heruli were one of the tribes that settled the sparse northern fringes of Byzantium.

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We believe that this kind of ethnic interpretation could be best tested by exploring the Margum fortification system. The insufficient level of research is caused, first of all, by objective limitations. The remains of the town positioned at the confluence of two big rivers must have suffered a lot from two millennia of flooding and riverbed displacements. Furthermore, in such a moist environment vegetation grows rapidly, so what is left of Roman Margum lies beneath a dense wood at present. For that reason the airborne laser scanning (LiDAR) of the terrain has been conducted (Ivanisevic-Bugarski 2012.), in order to gain a more precise picture of the so far hidden Margum, i.e. valid documents for planning the forthcoming excavations there.

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