Exchanging Medieval Material Culture Studies on archaeology and ...

Fig. 8 Hoard with 1 Byzantine solidus and 9 tremisses struck in
Ostrogothic and Frankish ateliers.
Th ese contacts could also have had an economic (trade) as well
as a social (marriage or other alliances) character.
Finally, a specifi c regional feature must also be mentioned.
In this peripheral area pottery vessels seem to be present in
grave-goods on a minor scale: at Broechem only 65 inhumation
graves contained a total amount of 88 pieces of pottery vessels.
In comparison with the excavated cemeteries outside the
Meuse-Demer-Scheldt-region, the Broechem results give an
extremely low percentage of 29 %.
52 Th euws 1988, 195.
The Merovingian cemetery of Broechem (B, province of Antwerp) in the North-Austrasian pagus Renensis 213
6 Conclusion: a still unknown region with many
possibilities for further investigations
On the one hand the multicultural infl uences recorded in the
cemetery refl ect the input of the native traditions of incoming
colonists from northern regions. On the other hand these infl uences
testify to social and economic contacts between these
peripheral elite landowners and the higher nobility in the
political core regions of this early medieval period. Th is seems
to be a typical feature for a peripheral area in a large and powerful
political territory.
Th e colonisation of North-Austrasia began rather late in the
6th century and only during the 8th century was the whole territory
completely integrated in the Frankish Empire. During
these 150 years of colonisation many integration processes
would have taken place. In these processes the contacts with
the native territories as well as the local elite played an important
role in the diff usion of multicultural infl uences.
Th e inhabitants of the peripheral pagus Renensis are to be seen
as migrating farmers. Within this group, some families manifested
themselves as local elites ruling a limited territory and
trying to gain further power through contacts with the higher
nobility of more powerful regions52. Th ese elite families also
maintained contact with their native countries.
Th e river Scheldt must have played an important role in this
colonisation. Without doubt many colonists would have travelled
down this river from the southern Frankish core regions
around Tournai (B., Hainaut) to the fertile sand loamy soils of
the south-eastern Antwerp region. More than likely other
migrants came into the area from northern regions upstream
heading for the same fertile grounds.
During the coming years the evidence for these migration
movements within the pagus Renensis will be the object of further
research. Th is project will be carried out within the scope
of a number of doctoral studies at the vub and will be supported
by the Flemish Heritage Institute (vioe). As well as
studying the excavation results from the Broechem cemetery,
older excavation reports of early medieval burial and settlement
sites within the pagus Rien will also be reconsidered. In
addition, the Flemish Heritage Institute will focus on further
excavations in the Scheldt-Rupel-Nethe territory, aiming to
reveal more scientifi c information on this still unknown period
and region.
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