Burial equipment as a source of information on diversity and consistency of the Carolingian culture

At the end of the eighth century, the Carolingian state began to expand to the east and south-east. As a consequence, the Carolingian culture started to affect the daily life of thousands of people, changing – apart from the political, religious and economic situation – their clothing, behaviour and habits. The process is reflected in small archaeological finds. However, in order to draw a more general picture and to understand what written sources left vague, a comprehensive comparative chronology is needed. We need to remember that at the beginning of the ninth century, equipped burial assemblages disappear in western Europe. As a consequence, archaeologists lack reliable sources that would allow relating finds from the peripheries to the core of the Carolingian world. Similarly, when a find from western Europe appears to be analogous to one from the periphery, archaeologists have no alternative but to rely on an often unsynchronised dating of the item. Responding to both popular and scientific claims about Carolingian culture, the overarching aim of the project is to identify interregional diversity and consistency patterns of the Carolingian culture based on burial equipment from areas recognised as parts of the Carolingian wold between the mid-eighth century and the first half of the tenth century. To meet this aim, it is necessary to answer questions that arise from gaps in the current state: What archaeological types of assemblages or artefacts are typical for individual phases and regions of the Carolingian period? Which patterns remain constant across regions? Which patterns are regional inventions? And how can the distinction between these two inform an archaeological division into chronological phases? These general questions are followed by four specific objectives that will constitute intermediate steps in reaching the main aim. These objectives include: (i) creating a transregional database of burial assemblages, (ii) determining a universal typology of selected artefacts (those that lack such a typology), (iii) identifying evolutionary patterns of types of artefacts selected for the analysis, and (iv) establishing spatial and chronological diversity of assemblages included in the analysis. The resulting question that needs to be answered is related to the long-standing debate on the dating of individual types of small finds, primarily pieces of weaponry and attire, and the chronology of their appearance in peripheral areas of the Carolingian world. Answering this question opens up new dimensions for understanding the proliferation of Carolingian political and cultural patterns in early medieval Europe. In its methodological aspects, the research relies on solutions provided by M. Eggert and F. Siegmund and includes a series of steps that ultimately allows a statistical analysis to be performed. Validated results will serve as a basis for a typochronological model dividing the Carolingian period into clear and legible phases reflecting the chronological diversity of the artefacts.