Pages: 259-271 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.55086/sp245259271

The issues of social stratification of the Goths of the Dori country (South-Western Crimea) are studied based on the burials of the 6th — 7th centuries (cemeteries of the Suuk-Su type). To correctly assess the possibility of stratification of graves for the 6th — 7th centuries in the South-Western Crimea, data are drawn from comparable barbarian societies in Central and Western Europe (Middle Danube, Ostrogothic Italy, Merovingian Gaul, Visigothic Spain), as well as the North-Eastern Black Sea region (Dyurso burial ground, belonging to the Goths-Tetraxites). For the Goths of the South — Western Crimea, burials with prestigious items or special architecture or burial structures are lacking. The bulk of the burials here belong to the “middle class” and are characterized by stable types of burial structures and a rather monotonous set of things in the graves. First, these are quite massive pieces of jewelry made of relatively inexpensive metals (silver and bronze). These features are typical of the bulk of the graves of the early Middle Ages in Central and Western Europe. The absence of privileged graves among the Goths of the Dori country in the 6th — 7th centuries can be explained both by the level of research and by the peculiarities of the social structure of this population, which were also reflected in the funerary ritual. It is possible that the Crimean Goths, as federates of the Eastern Roman Empire, were directly subordinate to the Byzantine military administration. The absence of the actual Gothic nobility could have manifested in the funerary rite and grave goods.

Keywords: South-Western Crimea, 6th—7th centuries, Goths, burials, social stratification

Information about authors:

Michel Kazanski (Paris, France). Doctor Habilitat on Archaeology. National Center for Scientific Research, UMR–8187 “East and Mediterranean”. Rue du Cardinal Lemoine, 52, Paris, 75005, France
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0002-0306-0936

Anna Mastykova (Moscow, Russian Federation). Doctor of Historical Sciences. Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dmitry Ulyanov St., 19, Moscow, 117292, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0001-7521-5071