Archaeology of the Romani people refers to the science of archaeology as applied in relation to the Romani people, an ethnic group dispersed across the world, which is known under several different names. The Romani people has a long history, and most likely hails from the Indian subcontinent. Throughout said history, the highly diverse Roma population has faced significant persecution in many parts of the world, and continues to do so today.
Due to the Romani people's frequent status as outsiders in regards to mainstream society and a constant minority, lacking any form of nation state and in turn facing structural bias and neglect from many national, regional and local governments and authorities, the research done into Romani history and culture has often been either lacking or non-existent. In modern times, even when this issue gradually being resolved in some areas, the field of Romani archaeology remains virtually unexplored. For example, the prominent Hungarian archaeologist Eszter Bánffy (de), director of the Römisch-Germanische Kommission of the German Archaeological Institute, has written that in all of post-Cold War era Eastern Europe, she has not found a single archaeologist of Romani heritage, nor anyone interested in researching let alone excavating possible Romani archaeological sites. [1]
While the French sociologist Jean-Pierre Liégeois (fr), director of the Gypsy Research Centre, has asserted that due to their often highly mobile lifestyle and frequent societal discrimination, the Romani have left behind no such archaeological sites, [2] there have been some limited field surveys and excavations of Romani-related sites.
This is especially the case in Sweden and Norway, where the Norwegian and Swedish Travellers arrived in the early 16th century. Two sites in particular have gone through several stages of excavation, with a third excavation project beginning in 2015. One is Snarsmon (also pejoratively called Tattarstaden, roughly the Gypsy Town), a Romani village close to the Norwegian border in Tanum Municipality which was active as a sanctuary from the 1860s until the first years of the 20th century. Surveys began in 2003, with yearly excavations between 2004 and 2007. Done in the style of community archaeology, participants – other than professional archaeologists – included both local inhabitants of non-Romani origin, as well as members from several Traveller organizations and one Roma cultural association. [3] One result of this project was the establishment in 2012 of the first Swedish museum exhibition about Traveller history, located in the town of Uddevalla, featuring some of the objects found during the excavations. [4] [5]
The second Swedish site is Krämarstaden (roughly translated, the Huckster Town), likewise a Romani village, located near Finnerödja in Laxå Municipality. The village was established in the first years of the 20th century, and abandoned in the beginning of the 1920s. Core surveys began at the same time as those in Snarsmon, with two phases of archaeological excavation taking place in 2013 and 2014, which much like the previous project involved professional archaeologists and other scientists, local inhabitants, and Swedish Travellers. [6] [7]
In August 2015, excavations began at a Romani campsite outside of Stockholm, in Skarpnäck. The camp was built in 1959 by the Swedish state as a temporary solution, until apartments could be arranged for the Romani, who had just been given full civic rights (and with that, a right to housing). The camp soon became permanent as the administrative process was dragged out, its inhabitants – about thirty people – living in tents, caravans and two home-built cottages, exposed to the weather. The two-year project, titled I stadens utkant (In the City's Fringe), is financed partially by the Swedish National Heritage Board, and is a cooperative project between the Swedish History Museum, the cultural association É Romani Glinda (the Romani Mirror), Mångkulturellt Centrum (Multicultural Center) in Botkyrka, and Stiftelsen Kulturmiljövård (the Cultural Environment Management Foundation). It will result in a book and an excavation report, in addition to certain finds forming part of the "Sweden's History" exhibition at the Swedish History Museum. [8] [9]
Several other archaeological sites belonging to the Romani people and the Scandinavian Travellers exist in Sweden as well as Norway, some of which were surveyed and mapped out in the transnational Scandinavian Traveller Map project. One of these, Tattardalen (Gypsy Valley) in Kungälv Municipality, is a ruined farmstead dating back to the 1600s, and is therefore the oldest Scandinavian site connected to the Travellers. [10]
Since 2017 archaeological surveys have taken place at the site of a Roma concentration camp in the Czech Republic. After World War II the site located at Lety u Písku was converted to a pig farm. Recently the farm has been shut down and work is underway to convert the complex into a museum. Archaeological excavations at the site have recovered building materials such as nails and door handles as well as beads and buttons that may have belonged to the prisoners there. Upcoming excavations will seek to locate the camp's burial sites. [11]
Another example of possibly Romani-related archaeology is a June 2010 excavation of the "Caird’s Cave" in Rosemarkie, Scotland, a site possibly inhabited by Scottish Gypsy and Traveller groups. [12] In addition to archaeology directly relating to Romani sites, there have also been some research done into the archaeogenetics and "linguistic archaeology" [13] of the Romani people. An example of this is the discovery of a skeleton in an Anglo-Saxon cemetery under Norwich Castle in Norfolk, which – as reported by British Archaeology – was genetically identified as a possible Romani man. [14]
The Romani, also spelled Romany or Rromani, colloquially known as the Roma, are an ethnic group of Indo-Aryan origin who traditionally lived a nomadic, itinerant lifestyle. Linguistic and genetic evidence suggests that the Romani originated in the Indian subcontinent; in particular, the region of present-day Rajasthan. Their subsequent westward migration, possibly in waves, is now believed by historians to have occurred around 1000 CE. Their original name is from the Sanskrit word डोम (doma) and means a member of the Dom caste of travelling musicians and dancers. The Roma population moved west into the Persian Ghaznavid Empire and later into the Byzantine Empire. The Roma are thought to have arrived in Europe around the 13th to 14th century. A genetic analysis published in the Current Biology journal implies an earlier initial arrival, dating back to the 6th century. Although they are dispersed, their most concentrated populations are located in Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Turkey and Spain.
Irish Travellers, also known as Pavees,Mincéirs or Mincéirí, are a traditionally peripatetic indigenous ethno-cultural group originating in Ireland.
Hisingen is the fifth-largest island of Sweden, with an area of 199 km2 (77 sq mi). It is a river island, formed by the split of the Göta Älv at Bohus, and is defined to the east and south by the main arm of that river, to the north by the smaller arm, and to the west by the Kattegat. The southern part of Hisingen is extensively urbanised, representing the northern suburbs of the city of Gothenburg. The island is divided between the historical provinces of Västergötland and Bohuslän, but lies entirely within the modern county of Västra Götaland.
Kungahälla was a medieval settlement in southern Bohuslän at a site which is located in Kungälv Municipality in Västra Götaland County in Sweden. It is the site of the former fortification at Ragnhildsholmen.
Birger Nerman was a Swedish archaeologist, historian and philologist who specialized in the history and culture of Iron Age Sweden.
Romanichals are a Romani subgroup within the United Kingdom and other parts of the English-speaking world. Most Romanichal speak Angloromani, a mixed language that blends Romani vocabulary with English syntax. Romanichals resident in England, Scotland, and Wales are part of the Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller community.
The Romani people are a distinct ethnic and cultural group of peoples living all across the globe, who share a family of languages and sometimes a traditional nomadic mode of life. Though their exact origins are unclear, central India is a notable point of origin. Their language shares a common origin with, and is similar to, modern-day Gujarati and Rajasthani, borrowing loan words from other languages as they migrated from India. In Europe, even though their culture has been victimized by other cultures, they have still found a way to maintain their heritage and society. Indian elements in Romani culture are almost non-existent, with the exception of their language. Romani culture focuses heavily on family. The Roma traditionally live according to relatively strict moral codes. The ethnic culture of the Romani people who live in central, eastern and southeastern European countries developed through a long, complex process of continuous active interaction with the culture of their surrounding European population.
The Romani flag or the flag of the Roma is the international ethnic flag of the Romani people, historically known as "Gypsies", which form a stateless minority in countries across Eurasia, Africa, the Americas, and Australasia. It was approved by the representatives of various Romani communities at the first and second World Romani Congresses (WRC), in 1971 and 1978. The flag consists of a background of blue and green, representing the heavens and earth, respectively; it also contains a 16-spoke red dharmachakra, or cartwheel, in the center. The latter element stands for the itinerant tradition of the Romani people and is also an homage to the flag of India, added to the flag by scholar Weer Rajendra Rishi. It superseded a number of tribal emblems and banners, several of which evoked claims of Romani descent from the Ancient Egyptians.
Anti-Romani sentiment is a form of bigotry which consists of hostility, prejudice, discrimination, racism and xenophobia which is specifically directed at Romani people. Non-Romani itinerant groups in Europe such as the Yenish, Irish and Highland Travellers are frequently given the name "gypsy" and as a result, they are frequently confused with the Romani people. As a result, sentiments which were originally directed at the Romani people are also directed at other traveler groups and they are frequently referred to as "antigypsy" sentiments.
The Norwegian and Swedish Romanisæl Travellers are a group or branch of the Romani people who have been resident in Norway and Sweden for some 500 years. The estimated number of Romanisael Travellers in Sweden is 65,000, while in Norway, the number is probably about 10,000.
The Finnish Kale are a group of the Romani people who live primarily in Finland and Sweden. Their main languages are Finnish, Swedish and Finnish Romani. Kalo/Kale is the collective name for traveler people in Finland, England and Spain.
The Romani people have several distinct populations, the largest being the Roma and the Calé, who reached Anatolia and the Balkans in the early 12th century, from a migration out of the Indian subcontinent beginning about 1st century – 2nd century AD. They settled in the areas of present-day Turkey, Greece, Serbia, Romania, Croatia, Moldova, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Hungary, Albania, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Slovenia and Slovakia, by order of volume, and Spain. From the Balkans, they migrated throughout Europe and, in the nineteenth and later centuries, to the Americas. The Roma population in the United States is estimated at more than one million.
Scottish Travellers, or the people in Scotland loosely termed Romani persons or travellers, consist of a number of diverse, unrelated communities that speak a variety of different languages and dialects that pertain to distinct customs, histories, and traditions.
Romani studies is an interdisciplinary ethnic studies field concerned with the culture, history and political experiences of the Romani people. The discipline also focuses on the interactions between other peoples and Romas, and their mindset towards the Romas.
Martin Rundkvist is a Swedish archaeologist and associate professor at the University of Łódź in Poland. His research focuses on the Bronze, Iron, and Middle Ages of Scandinavia, including significant excavations in the province of Östergötland.
The Romani people are also known by a variety of other names; in English as gypsies or gipsies, and Roma; in Greek as γύφτοι (gíftoi) or τσιγγάνοι (tsiggánoi), in Central and Eastern Europe as Tsingani ; in France as gitans besides the dated terms bohémiens and manouches; in Italy as rom and sinti besides the dated terms zingari, zigani, and gitani; in Spain as gitanos; and in Portugal and Brazil as ciganos.
Sandby borg is an Iron Age ringfort, one of at least 15 on the island of Öland, Sweden. It sits about 2 kilometers southeast of Södra Sandby village in Sandby parish in southeastern Öland. It is close to the village of Gårdby.
Inger Zachrisson is a Swedish archaeologist specializing in the history of the Sami people. As Associate Professor of Archaeology at Uppsala University and former curator of Stockholm's History Museum, she has researched Sami archaeology and history since the Iron Age.
Romani people have been recorded in the United Kingdom since at least the early 16th century. Records of Romani people in Scotland date to the early 16th century. Romani number around est. 225,000 in the UK. This includes the sizable population of Eastern European Roma, who immigrated into the UK in the late 1990s/early 2000s, and also after EU expansion in 2004. Romani people in the UK are considered part of the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) community.
Environmental racism is a form of institutional racism leading to landfills, incinerators, and hazardous waste disposal being disproportionally placed in communities of colour. This includes the lack of minority and indigenous representation in environmental decision-making and inequality in resource development. Internationally, it is also associated with extractivism, which places the environmental burdens of mining, oil extraction, and industrial agriculture upon Indigenous peoples and poorer nations largely inhabited by people of colour.
