The shlakalken-5 cemetery: cultural and chronological continuity of the sites dated to the roman period and the Migration period in the northern part of the Sambian peninsula

The paper explores materials from Shlakalken-5, which is a ground cemeteryof the Sambian-Natangian culture, discovered in the course of reconnaissance works onthe Sambian Peninsula (Zelenograd district, Kaliningrad Region). The cemetery yieldedartifacts from the Late Roman period - the early Migration Period. Comparison of the datesobtained through the radiocarbon analysis and the studies of the funeral offerings help datethe whole cemetery to the Late Roman phases d-D1, i. e. ca. 160/180-400/410 AD interms of chronology of European Barbaricum. Radiocarbon analysis dates burial 3 withinthe chronological range from 250-440 AD (90,8 % probability by two sigma), or to themore limited range from 330 to 430 AD (64,9 % probability by one sigma). The artifactsdiscovered at Shlakalken-5 occupy an intermediary chronological position between Romanperiod antiquities from the heydays of the Sambian-Natangian culture represented by urngraves with rich funeral offerings and urnless graves with scarce funeral offerings of theMerovingian period; they all provide evidence of gradual impoverishment of the culture thatcan be observed at other sites as well, and, probably, reflect some crisis events associated withthe Marcomannic Wars and overall decline of the Roman Empire.