THE “GREEN BORDER” BETWEEN NORICUM AND UPPER PANNONIA: OLD OPINIONS AND NEW HINTS Cover Image

DIE „GRÜNE GRENZE“ ZWISCHEN NORICUM UND OBERPANNONIEN: ALTE MEINUNGEN UND NEUE INDIZIEN
THE “GREEN BORDER” BETWEEN NORICUM AND UPPER PANNONIA: OLD OPINIONS AND NEW HINTS

Author(s): Manfred Lehner
Subject(s): History
Published by: Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai
Keywords: Noricum; Pannonien; Römische Kaiserzeit; Oststeiermark; Provinzgrenze; Munizipalterritorien; Ortskontinuität im Mittelalter.

Summary/Abstract: The “Green Border” between Noricum and Upper Pannonia: Old Opinions and New Hints.The fines imperii are a more historical than archaeological item, so what can archaeology do to help fix an insecure borderline? The eastern boundary of Noricum is quite well known in it´s northern part near the Danube limes. South of the Lower Austrian and Styrian Alps, in the hilly region of southeastern Styria towards Hungary and Slovenia, the definite borderline is unknown. Various maps show different versions within a range of 50-70 km between the rivers Mur in the west and Pinka in the east. In most cases the borderline is drawn along the small river Lafnitz, which has been a border from the 11th century until today. Borders of Roman provinces have been worked out mainly based on ancient literature and epigraphic sources, by medieval frontier lines interpreted as recourse of ancient borders, or by the evidence of military structures. For the region surveyed there is no such proof. Archaeological evidence cannot help either: Structures of settlements, types of villae rusticae, finds and find distributions do not really change within that region. The typical burial monuments, groups of barrows with cremation graves, spread on both sides of the border. Recently, an investigation of continuity of sites from Roman Imperial Age to Middle Ages in Noricum and Pannonia south of the Alps - thus far from the limes – has shown, that 9th and 10th centuries´ resettlement of Roman sites is clearly a more Pannonian phenomenon and does not occur in southeastern Noricum. Though, two sites in Southeastern Styria provide positive proofs of resettlement on the very place: A new evidence for the border between Noricum and Pannonia pretty west of the common version of the Lafnitz river?

  • Issue Year: 57/2012
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 38-51
  • Page Count: 14
  • Language: German