Once upon a time in Germania Magna. The relation between terra sigillata and the historical events in the northwestern and northeastern Europe (1-400 CE)

Sammanfattning: During the period of the Roman Imperial Period the area north of the Roman limes, Germania Magna, was influenced from the Roman Empire. The varied interactions between the Romans and the Germanic population, living beyond the northern frontier, has broadly been studied during centuries. One of these aspects have been to further understand the relation and the Roman- Germanic interaction by investigating if the military and diplomatic campaigns of the Roman Empire have affected the influx of these goods as well as the Germanic population. Countless of different vessels have been studied and has been believed to have been traveling together. However, later studies have shown that there seems to have been a difference in the material of the Roman pottery terra sigillata. It seems that this pottery type has followed another distribution pattern in comparison to the other vessels. Although the distribution pattern has shown to be different in comparison to the military and diplomatic campaigns, not much focus has been given to the impact of this on the distribution of terra sigillata. Therefore, this thesis is to further relate episodes of military and diplomatic campaigns of the Roman Empire to the distribution of terra sigillata north of the Roman limes. With the use of distribution maps made in a Geographical Information System as well as compilations of Roman finds it has been possible to analyze the material. Furthermore, the narrow dating of terra sigillata has further made it easier to discuss this. It has been proven that the distribution of terra sigillata has been following the military and diplomatic campaigns of the Roman Empire. However, this has not been the only reason for the distribution. An increase of terra sigillata in Germania Magna in the period around 150 CE to 200 CE suggests that the distribution was not longer only following the military development beyond the frontier. A suggestion is that there was an increase in the market as more consumers were introduced. It is possible that the export of terra sigillata was no longer in the need for military and diplomatic campaigns to travel. Furthermore, a contextual difference between the northwestern and the northeastern distribution shows that terra sigillata in the northeast have had a determined value as the majority of these have been found in burial contexts. The different changes in the production and the military and diplomatic campaigns of the Roman Empire seems to not have had any affect on the contextual difference in the northeast. However, the area beyond the frontier along the Danube, which was closer to the Roman presence in the northeast could further indicate if this correlate to the northern distribution.