Formation of social elites among the aestii at the end ofthe roman period and during the migration period

The paper reviews characteristics of the elite formation process in the Aestiisociety from the end of the Roman period to the Migration Period, building on the resultsof the most recent archaeological studies in the Sambia Peninsular as well as materialsfrom the studies of neighboring synchronous cultures. It has been demonstrated that thedevelopmental processes of Aestii society and their material culture (taking the exampleof the elite formation) unfolded within the framework of the events that took place acrossentire Barbaricum in the said period. A number of attributes characterizing the Aestii elitegraves have been selected, such as abundance of funeral offerings and presence of a largenumber of imported goods; the splendor of the funeral rite; a high symbolic meaningof grave goods; location of the sites with elite graves on the main trade routes goingfrom Sambia to the Vistula estuary. The paper makes reference to a number of recentlydiscovered graves dating to the period from the end of the 4th century to the first half of the6th century; there is no doubt that high-placed Aestii were buried there.