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The name '''Nordwestblock''', also "North-West Block", is an umbrella term to refer to the [[prehistoric]] cultures situated in the area roughly defined by the rivers [[Werra]], [[Aller]], [[Somme]] and [[Oise]] (the present-day [[Netherlands]], [[Belgium]], northern [[France]] and western [[Germany]]) during the Bronze and Iron Ages (3rd to 1st millennia BC, up to the gradual onset of historical sources from the [[1st century]]). |
The name '''Nordwestblock''', also "North-West Block", is an umbrella term to refer to the [[prehistoric]] cultures situated in the area roughly defined by the rivers [[Werra]], [[Aller]], [[Somme]] and [[Oise]] (the present-day [[Netherlands]], [[Belgium]], northern [[France]] and western [[Germany]]) during the Bronze and Iron Ages (3rd to 1st millennia BC, up to the gradual onset of historical sources from the [[1st century]]). |
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The term was coined by Hans Kuhn<ref>"Völker zwischen Germanen und Kelten", von Rolf Hachmann, Georg Kossack und Hans Kuhn, 1986, p183-212</ref>, who considered the inhabitants of this area neither Germanic nor Celtic, thus attributing to the people a distinct ethnicity. According to him the region was [[Germanisation|Germanised]] from the beginning of the Common Era at the latest. |
The term was coined by Hans Kuhn<ref>"Völker zwischen Germanen und Kelten", von Rolf Hachmann, Georg Kossack und Hans Kuhn, 1986, p183-212</ref>, who considered the inhabitants of this area neither Germanic nor Celtic, thus attributing to the people a distinct ethnicity. According to him the region was [[Germanisation|Germanised]] from the beginning of the Common Era at the latest. [[Arminius]] was a member of the Germanic superstrate that ruled the [[Chatti]] and [[Cherusci]] at this time. |
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==Prehistory== |
==Prehistory== |
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==See also== |
==See also== |
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[[Dutch mythology]] |
[[Dutch mythology]] |
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[[Category:Bronze Age Europe]] |
[[Category:Bronze Age Europe]] |
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[[Category:Iron Age Europe]] |
[[Category:Iron Age Europe]] |
Revision as of 10:57, 5 June 2007
The name Nordwestblock, also "North-West Block", is an umbrella term to refer to the prehistoric cultures situated in the area roughly defined by the rivers Werra, Aller, Somme and Oise (the present-day Netherlands, Belgium, northern France and western Germany) during the Bronze and Iron Ages (3rd to 1st millennia BC, up to the gradual onset of historical sources from the 1st century).
The term was coined by Hans Kuhn[1], who considered the inhabitants of this area neither Germanic nor Celtic, thus attributing to the people a distinct ethnicity. According to him the region was Germanised from the beginning of the Common Era at the latest. Arminius was a member of the Germanic superstrate that ruled the Chatti and Cherusci at this time.
Prehistory
The Bell Beaker culture is thought to originate from the Nordwestblock geographic area, as early stages of this culture apparently derived from early Corded Ware culture elements, with the Netherlands/Rhineland region as probably the most widely accepted site of origin (J. P. Mallory, EIEC p. 53).
The Bell-Beaker cultures (2700–2100) locally developed into the Bronze Age Barbed Wire Beakers culture (2100-1800). In the second millennium BC, the region is at the boundary between the Atlantic and Nordic horizons, split up in a northern and a southern region, roughly divided by the course of the Rhine. To the north emerged the Elp culture (1800-800), featuring an initial tumulus phase showing a close relationship to other Northern European tumulus groups (sharing pottery of low quality: "Kümmerkeramik"), and a subsequent smooth local transformation to the Urnfield culture (1200-800). The southern region became dominated by the Hilversum culture (1800-800), which apparently inherited the previous Barbed Wire Beakers cultural ties with Britain.
From 800 BC onwards, the area was influenced by the Hallstatt culture. The current view in the Netherlands hold that subsequent Iron Age innovations did not involve substantial Celtic intrusions and feature a local development from Bronze Age culture.[2]
In the final centuries BC, the Nordwestblock loses its distinctiveness, areas formerly occupied by the Elp culture merged into the "Nienburg group" of the Germanic Jastorf culture[citation needed] while the southern parts become assimilated to the Celtic La Tène culture, consistent with Caesar's account of the Rhine forming the boundary between Celtic and Germanic tribes.
The Roman retreat resulted into the disappearance of imported products like ceramics and coins, and a return to virtually unchanged local Iron Age production methods. To the north people continued to live in the same three-aisled farmhouse, while to the east completely new types of buildings arose. More to the south, in Belgium, archeological results of this period point to immigration from the north.[3]
Language hypotheses
Concerning the language spoken by the Iron Age Nordwestblock population, Kuhn speculated on linguistic affinity to the Venetic language, other hypotheses connect the Northwestblock with the Raetic ("Tyrsenian") or generic Centum Indo-European (Illyrian, "Old European"). Linguist Peter Schrijver speculates on reminiscent lexical and typological features left on the historic development of the current (Romance and Germanic) languages of this region and assumes the preexistence of pre-Indo European languages linked to the archeological Linear Pottery culture and to a family of languages featuring complex verbs, of which the Northwest Caucasian languages might have been the sole survivors. Although assumed to have left traces within all other Indo European languages as well, its influence would have been especially strong on Celtic languages originating north of the Alps and on the region including Belgium and Rhineland.[6]
It is uncertain from what time on Germanic took a foothold in the area. The general development converged with the emergence of Germanic within other previously Northern Bronze Age regions to the east, maybe also involving a certain degree of Germanic cultural diffusion. The local continuity of the Dutch areas was not substantially affected by pre-Roman (c.q. Celtic) immigration.[7].
From ca. the 1st century AD, the region saw the development of the "Weser-Rhine" group of West Germanic dialects which gave rise to Old Frankish from the 4th century.
Roman era
With the onset of historical records (Tacitus, 1st century), the area is the border region between Celtic (Gaulish) and Germanic influence.
Tribes located in the area include the Batavians, Belgae, Chatti, Hermunduri, Cheruscii, Usipi, Tencteri and Usipetes. Caesar took the course of the Rhine to be the boundary between Gauls and Germans. The Belgae were considered Gaulish (and the Usipi Germanic, etc.) on these grounds and not in the modern linguistic sense of the terms.
In later times, tribes from the region participated in the Germanic migrations of the 5th century, especially to Britain (Frisians and Saxons) and France (Franks).
Mythology
The ancient beliefs of this area are generally considered to reflect a long local and unique tradition, related to pre-Indo European fertility religions similar to those of the Old Europe as described by Marija Gimbutas. While intrinsically different from mainstream Celtic and Germanic mythology, within the Norse cosmology traces of related beliefs can sometimes be found and other elements can be identified as foreign additions originating from this area. Typical from this area in Roman times was the worship of goddess Nehalennia, triple goddesses related to water and streams, the Frisian god of justice Fosite and the Batavian chief god Hercules Magusanus. Other local gods are both Germanic and without any known equivalent in other Germanic areas, like Hurstrga and Sandraudiga.
The Norse service of Forsiti is thought to have originated from the Frisian Fosite.[8] The obscure Norse service of Magni might be a loan or the relict of a once much more important (pastoral) service related to a god similar to Hercules Magusanus. Nibelungen, telling the story of Siegfried von Xanten, a mythical hero from the Netherlands, and of Hagen, a Frankish nobleman, relates of their encounters with "mermaids from the Rhine", typical from this region and virtually without mainstream Germanic equivalent.
Genetics
The Nordwestblock theory attributes to the people of the area a separate identity from their Germanic and Celtic neighbours. Ethnicity involves a focus on genetic and anthropological features.
Investigation of the Y-chromosome reveal markedly low occurrences of the Hg R1a1 gene.[9] R1a1 measurements read 6.2% to Germans (a 4X drop to Czechs and Slovakians reading 26,7%) and 3.7% to Dutch.[10] In this same region high concentrations of the Hg I1c gene have been measured.[11]
20th century anthropologists Carleton S. Coon (1939)[12] and Bertil Lundman (1977)[13] described the dominant local phenotype as "Upper Paleolithic survivors, robust Cro-magnoids with incorporated Brünn and Borreby and " Falid or Faelish-Nordid, a Cro-magnoid subtype of the Nordic subrace, respectively. The brachycephalic Borreby subtype has been associated with early Beaker cultures and the Brünn subtype has been associated with Linear Pottery culture. Mediterranean and Alpine admixtures grow stronger to the south.
See also
- ^ "Völker zwischen Germanen und Kelten", von Rolf Hachmann, Georg Kossack und Hans Kuhn, 1986, p183-212
- ^ Op Zoek naar de Kelten, Nieuwe archeologische ontdekkingen tussen Noordzee en Rijn - Leo Verhart, ISBN 90 5345 303 2, 2006, p67
- ^ J.H.F. Bloemers & T. van Dorp. Pre- en Protohistorie van de Lage Landen. De Haan/Open Universiteit, 1991, ISBN 90 269 4448 9, NUGI 644, pp 329-338
- ^ Kinder, Hermann (1988), Penguin Atlas of World History, vol. I, London: Penguin, p. 108, ISBN 0-14-051054-0.
- ^ "Languages of the World: Germanic languages". The New Encyclopædia Britannica. Chicago, IL, United States: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. 1993. ISBN 0-85229-571-5.
- ^ Peter Schrijver - Keltisch en de buren: 9000 jaar taalcontact, University of Utrecht, march 2007.[1]
- ^ Op zoek naar de Kelten, Nieuwe archeologische ontdekkingen tussen Noordzee en Rijn - Leo Verhart, 2007, ISBN 90-5345-303-2
- ^ About 700 AD the cultural relations between Frisia and southern Norway were tight enough to enable the Fosite-cult to move north to the Oslofjord (Vries, J. de, Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte, band II, Berlin, 1957)
- ^ Barrier analysis (Alexander Varzari, 5.2.4) show a clear gene barrier along the Vistula: "This finding suggests that across the history the geographic boundary, dividing Southeast Europe from Eastern Europe was more transparent for the reciprocal flows than the boundary between Eastern and Western Europe."
- ^ European R1a1 measurements(referred to as M17 or Eu19) in Science vol 290, 10 November 2000 [2]
- ^ Phylogeography of Y-Chromosome Haplogroup I Reveals Distinct Domains of Prehistoric Gene Flow in Europe - Siiri Rootsi et al,[3] Hg I1c mapping, Figure 1
- ^ Carleton S. Coon, The Races of Europe,1939 (New York: Knopf, 1962) Chapter XII, section 5 on Frisia
- ^ The Races and Peoples of Europe - Bertil Lundman, New York: IAAEE. 1977, [4]