From Coast to Coast

The Baltic Sea has functioned as a connecting environment for trade, migration, and cultural exchange since prehistory, enabling long-distance trade from the shores of Scandinavia to the modern-day Baltic States, Kaliningrad, Poland, and Germany. Despite the sea’s historical role as a conduit for long-distance interaction, however, the reception of archaeological research in this area remains shaped by twentieth-century political divisions that instead transformed it into a barrier.

This book offers a snapshot of recent and ongoing research, case studies, and archaeological projects focused on cultural interaction across and along the Baltic Sea. Covering the Iron Age, Roman and Migration Periods, Viking Age, and the Middle Ages, the volume presents examples of archaeological data that illustrate social and economic processes, cultural exchange, and the complex web of intercultural and cross-cultural relations among the societies that border the Baltic. Through these contributions, which foreground both continuity and disruption, this volume contributes to a deeper understanding of the Baltic Sea as a historically rich and multifaceted cultural landscape.

List of Illustrations

1. The Brooches from Early Iron Age at Store Frigård, Bornholm and Cultural Contact across the Baltic Sea: A Preliminary Report
Tine Trolle

2. The Roman Period Cemeteries with Stone Circles on the Southern Baltic Coastland: State of the Debate and Research Perspectives
Adam Cieśliński

3. Between Representation and Consumption: Animal Remains in the Inhumation Graves of the Wielbark Culture
Kalina Skóra

4. Glass Beads of the Late Roman Period from West Lithuania as Indicators of Communication across the Baltic Sea
Rasa Banyte-Rowell

5. Transfer of Objects only? Scandinavian Imitation Solidi
Anna Zapolska

6. The Elite Plot in the Cemetery of Ciepłe (Northern Poland): From Scandinavia through the Piast Royal Court to Pomerania?
Slawomir Wadyl

7. Crossing Waters: The Scandinavian Influence on the Viking Age Cemeteries of Wiskiauten and Linkuhnen at the Curonian Lagoon
Christoph Jahn

8. The Missing Trading Port of Wiskiauten/Mokhovoye on the Sambia Peninsula: A Final Assessment on the Archaeological Investigations 2005–2011
Annika Sirkin

9. Comparative Material Analysis of Medieval Artefacts from Eastern Baltic and Central Ukrainian Cemeteries using Transmission Electron Microscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy Techniques
Khurram Saleem, Roman Shiroukhov, Ulrich Schürmann, Jens Schneeweiß, Vyacheslav Baranov, Vsevolod Ivakin, Claus von Carnap-Bornheim, and Lorenz Kienle

10. Medieval Finds from a Large Puddle on a Small Island. Archaeological Research in Lake Hammersø on Bornholm (Denmark)
Bartosz Kontny and Finn Ole Nielsen

11. The Yatvingian 'Valley of the Kings' on the Szczeberka River (North-east Poland)
Tomasz Nowakiewicz, Dawid Rembecki, and Sławomir Miłek