Reihengräber culture

[3] Some scholars now argue that the concept of a row grave culture is obsolete and ought to be discarded altogether, since it wrongly suggests a Germanic ethnic connotation.

[4] Finally, archaeologists now argue that the focus on row graves ignores the much larger variability in burial customs that were prevalent in the region in this period.

Both zones remained autonomous of Merovingian control until the mid-6th century, when Garibald I of Bavaria was installed as Duke in 555 A.D.[6] The Reihengräber culture features the burial practice of evenly spaced rows.

[10] Animistic designs occur extensively throughout Reihengräber material culture, in particular bird-like iconography and shapes of Thuringian bow brooches.

[6] Late fifth century Thuringian graves in modern Scherzheim also contained sets of Zierschlusselpaare, or symbolic keys pairs, uncommon artefacts whose ritual significance is yet unknown.

[10] Another common item is the biconical pot, (German: Knickwandtopf, Dutch: Knikwandpot, and French: Vase biconique), the most important type of ceramics from the Merovingian period.

[11] Disparities in quality and prevalence of grave goods within the Reihengräber culture can be linked to a social overclass who represented local leadership and aristocracy.

All graves showed burial gifts crafted in the Thuringian make, and reveal that many Frankish commoners integrated the material culture with native Germanic populations in the Reihengräber region[6] During the 1920s, archaeological investigation of the Reihengräber culture led to the debate among scholars whether the deposited funerary objects were seen as distinctly inalienable property that could not be inherited of sold.

In this interpretation, inalienable property consisted of artefacts that could not be sold or exchanged due to their symbolic role as 'companion' objects to their original creators.

Although the concept is found in the later tenth century Germanic legal code of Sachsenspiegel, no contemporary sources exist to confirm this hypothesis.

It is clear that these ethnic groups shares similar burial practices, especially considering the increasing prevalence of Frankish arms in connecting the Reihengräber region's military culture.

[6] Particularly, the Francisca battle-axes, traditionally considered as an ethnic marker of the Franks, have been located throughout the Reihengräber region in Thuringia, Almannia and Bavaria.