Germanic Iron Age

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Germanic Iron Age is the name given to the period 400 AD–800 AD in Northern Europe and it is part of the continental Age of Migrations. It follows the Roman Iron Age and the beginning is marked by the fall of the Roman empire and the rise of the Germanic kingdoms in Western Europe. In Scandinavia, it is followed by the Viking Age.

It is divided into the early Germanic Iron Age (EGIA) and the late Germanic Iron Age (LGIA). In Sweden, the LGIA 550–800 is usually referred to as the Vendel Age, in Norway, the Merovinger Age.

During the fall of the Roman empire, there was an abundance of gold that flowed into Scandinavia and there are excellent works in gold from this period. Gold was used to make scabbard mountings and bracteates and notable examples are the Golden horns of Gallehus.

After the Roman empire had disappeared, gold became scarce and Scandinavians began to make objects of gilded bronze, with decorations of interlacing animals in Scandinavian style. The EGIA decorations show animals that are rather faithful anatomically, but in the LGIA they evolve into intricate shapes with interlacing and interwoven limbs that are well-known from the Viking Age.

[edit] Timeline of Prehistoric Sweden

<timeline> Period = from:-8000 till:2006 ImageSize= width:800 height:auto barincrement:21 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:80 left:30 bottom:40 top:5 AlignBars = justify

Colors =

    id:bg         value:white
    id:epoch      value:rgb(1,0.9,0.9)
    id:stoneage   value:rgb(1,0.85,0.85)
    id:bronzeage  value:rgb(1,1,0.6)
    id:bronzeage2  value:rgb(0.9,0.9,0.5)
    id:ironage    value:rgb(0.8,1,0.8)
    id:vendelera  value:rgb(0.9,1,0.6)
    id:vikingage  value:rgb(0.9,0.9,0.6)
    id:current    value:rgb(0.9,0.9,0.9)
    id:lightline  value:rgb(0.8,0.8,0.8)
    id:header     value:rgb(0.8,0.8,0.9)
    id:lighttext  value:rgb(0.5,0.5,0.5)
    id:migrations value:rgb(1,0.7,1) 
    id:early      value:rgb(0.7,1,0.7)

BackgroundColors = canvas:bg ScaleMajor = gridcolor:lightline unit:year increment:1000 start:-8000 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:500 start:-8000

BarData =

 Bar:epochs
 Barset:stoneages
 Bar:bronzeages
 Bar:bronzeageperiods
 Barset:ironages
 Barset:contages
 Barset:earlyhist

PlotData=

 width:15 textcolor:black

 bar:epochs color:epoch mark:(line,black)
   from:-8000 till:-7500 shift:(-25,0) text:"Ancylus age"
   from:-7500 till:-4000 text:"Litorina age"
   from:-4000 till:end text:"Post-Litorina age"

 barset:stoneages mark:(line,white)
   color:stoneage from:-8000 till:-1800 text:"Nordic Stone Age"
   color:epoch from:-8000 till:-7000 shift:(-10,0) text:"Upper Paleolithic"
   color:epoch from:-7000 till:-5000 text:"Mesolithic"
   color:epoch from:-5000 till:-1800 text:"Neolithic"
   barset:break

 bar:bronzeages
   color:bronzeage from:-1800 till:-600 shift:(-34,0) text:"Nordic Bronze Age"

 bar:bronzeageperiods color:epoch 
   color:bronzeage from:-1800 till:-1500 shift:(-3,0) text:"I"
   color:bronzeage2 from:-1500 till:-1300 shift:(-4,0) text:"II"
   color:bronzeage from:-1300 till:-1100 shift:(-4,0) text:"III"
   color:bronzeage2 from:-1100 till:-900 shift:(-5,0) text:"IV"
   color:bronzeage from:-900 till:-600 shift:(-4,0) text:"V"
   color:bronzeage2 from:-600 till:-500 shift:(-4,0) text:"VI"

 barset:ironages
   color:ironage from:-600 till:1 shift:(-20,0) text:"Pre-Roman Iron Age"
   color:ironage from:1 till:400  shift:(-15,0)text:"Roman Iron Age"
   color:ironage from:400 till:800  shift:(-15,0)text:"Germanic Iron Age"
   color:vendelera from:550 till:793  shift:(-5,0)text:"Vendel era"
   color:vikingage from:793 till:1066  shift:(-10,0)text:"Viking Age"
   color:migrations from:300 till:900  shift:(-20,0)text:"Migration Period"

 barset:earlyhist
   color:early from:800 till:1523  shift:(-25,0) text:"Middle Ages"
   color:early from:1523 till:end  shift:(-15,0) text:"Modern Sweden"

</timeline>