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The stemmed glass from Säben
Beginning in the late 6th century BC Germanic tribes also settled in the valleys south of the Main Alpine Ridge. Here they encountered the indigenous, now Romanized population. Indigenous Romans and Germanic immigrants probably co-existed peacefully for the most part. This is shown by grave fields in which Germanic and Roman graves are situated side by side. In the grave field at Säben a precious stemmed glass was found in the grave of a Roman woman. The greenish, goblet-shaped drinking glass was hand-blown and dates from the 6th century AD. Otherwise the grave only yielded a simple iron knife.
Crystal-clear
Like many technological innovations, the production of glass also originated in the Middle East. The first glass vessels were made in Egypt and Mesopotamia as early as the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. They were produced using the sand core method. In this method a clay core is dipped into a viscous glass. The object is then shaped by rolling on a plate. The cavity is created by destroying the clay core afterward. The technique of glass blowing was only developed in the 1st century BC by Syrian glassmakers.
In Central Europe the first glass objects occurred during the Iron Age in the form of armlets. They were produced from coloured glass paste and were very popular among the Celts. Hand-blown drinking glasses and glass bottles appeared in Roman households starting in the first century AD. Hand-blown stemmed glasses, like the one recovered from Grave 102 at Säben were still being used as grave objects to accompany the dead to the afterlife as late as the 6th century AD.
A closer look – glass production
As the roman scholar Plinius reported, crude glass is produced in a furnace at around 1300° Celsius from pure quartz sand to which soda was added as a flux agent and lime as a hardening agent. The glass paste, which is naturally greenish blue in colour, can be tinged by adding metal oxides. To produce crystal-clear glass, manganese oxide is added.
The development of the glass blower’s pipe made it easier to produce thin-walled, crystal-clear vessels. Now a wide range of different shapes could be made. Glasses, bottles, and jugs were decorated with coloured glass threads or glass beads. Glass production became faster and glass items cheaper. Beginning in Roman times, glass products quickly gained popularity.
Early Middle Age burials
Two different burial customs are encountered during the European Early Middle Ages. The local Romanized population had long been converted to Christianity. In accordance with the new beliefs these Alpine Romans buried their dead without grave objects, because the Christian notion of the hereafter dictated that they were no longer necessary. Only a few personal decorative items or a simple iron knife were placed in the graves.
This contrasted with the burial of the Germanic migrants who continued to settle in northern Italy and the Alpine region from the second half of the 6th century . Lombards, Franks, and Bavarians continued to bury their dead with grave objects. Men and women were buried in full traditional costume, which included clasps, belts, jewellery and amulets. Men were also buried with their weapons for use in the afterlife.
Christians or heathens?
In the course of the 7th century AD Christianity spread among the Germanic tribes who settled in upper Italy and the Alpine region during the late 6th century. Lombard and Bavarian rulers converted to the new faith on behalf of their people. Nevertheless, the Germanic population continued the tradition of burying their dead with grave objects for the afterlife. These soon included objects with Christian symbols, such as gold-leaf crosses in graves of the Lombardic upper classes. Christian motifs have also been found on belt metalwork, thus making doubly certain that they passed safely to the other side. By the beginning of the 8th century AD this custom had died away, even among the Germanic population.
