Contacts Across the Baltic Sea During the Late Iron Age (5th-12th Centuries).

Contacts Across the Baltic Sea During the Late Iron Age (5th-12th Centuries). This is a compilation volume of papers given at a symposium organizedby the Institute of Archaeology The Institute of Archaeology is an academic department of University College London (UCL), in the United Kingdom. The Institute is located in a separate building at the north end of Gordon Square, Bloomsbury. , University of Lund, Sweden, in October1991. The symposium was one outcome of an on-going project on thearchaeology of the Iron Age involving that university and otherinstitutes around the Baltic Sea Baltic Sea,arm of the Atlantic Ocean, c.163,000 sq mi (422,170 sq km), including the Kattegat strait, its northwestern extension. The ?resund, Store Bælt, and Lille Bælt connect the Baltic Sea with the Kattegat and Skagerrak straits, which lead to the : in Denmark, Germany, Poland and theBaltic States. Changing political circumstances over the past few yearshave enabled projects of this type to flourish, and it is now possibleto explore in greater depth what archaeologists have long known: thehomogeneity of culture in the lands around the Baltic. In this respectthe Baltic Sea is paralleled by the North Sea and the Irish Sea Irish Sea,arm of the Atlantic Ocean, c.40,000 sq mi (103,600 sq km), 130 mi (209 km) long and up to c.140 mi (230 km) wide, lying between Ireland and Great Britain. It is connected with the Atlantic by the North Channel and (on the south) by St. George's Channel. in thatthese seas have always been unifying forces rather than means ofseparation, and the Baltic Sea proves to be no exception.The period in question here (5th-12th centuries AD) is known inScandinavia and surrounding areas as the Late Iron Age, but morecommonly in Britain as the Early Middle Ages. The difference interminology is often a stumbling-block to archaeological understandingbetween different areas of Europe, but it is carefully spelled out inthis book. The authors are dealing with a largely pre-literate andpre-Christian period for which archaeological evidence is the mainsource of information. Thus, the conference was confined to speakers onarchaeological topics, and the resultant volume contains purelyarchaeological articles, ranging from a discussion of Late Roman coinagefound on the south Baltic ('Roman Ae coinage on the south Balticcoast' by Aleksander Bursche) to Slavonic pottery found, or made,in Scandinavia in the 11th-13th centuries (the transition between theLate Iron Age and the Early Middle Ages, according to according toprep.1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.2. In keeping with: according to instructions.3. the terminologyused here).The main outcome of the 1991 conference was to underline thesimilarities in cultural artefacts (including building traditions) inall the countries around the Baltic Sea. The reasons for thesesimilarities, however, remain unexplored as there is no summarizingoverview of the outcome of all this research.Several of the published papers, notably those on coinage('Silberokonomien in Ostseegebiet' by Birgitta Hardh;'The Lund coins in Estonian Viking-age hoards' by Ivar Leimus;'Monetary circulation in the territory of Lithuania before theintroduction of its own coinage' by Vytautas Aleksiejunas)emphasize the importance of exchange and trade in the late Iron Age.Others ('Molleholmen. An island settlement from the late Vikingperiod' by Lars Larsson Lars "Lasseman" Larsson, born on February 26, 1972 in Kung?lv, Sweden, is the lead singer and keyboardist of dansband act Arvingarna. ; 'Some comparative notes on Gotlandicand Livonian bead spacers of the Viking period' by LenaThunmark-Nylen) suggest colonization of south and east Scandinavia bypeoples from the eastern Baltic seaboard. Another article ('Balticware -- a black hole in the cultural history of early medievalScandinavia' by Mats Roslund) suggests that the peoples of theeastern and southern Baltic influenced, but did not settle, east andsouthern Sweden. The problem of ethnicity is also discussed('Interaction between ethnical eth��ni��cal?adj.1. Ethnic.2. Of or relating to ethnology.ethni��cal��ly adv.Adj. 1. groups in the Baltic region For other uses, see Baltic (disambiguation).The Baltic region is an ambiguous term that refers to slightly different combinations of countries in the general area surrounding the Baltic Sea. in thelate iron age' by Johan Callmer).This publication is basically a presentation of material, andtherefore raises more questions than it solves. What we really want toknow is how and why there were contacts around the Baltic Sea, why theyhappened, and what role was played by the Baltic Sea and its surroundingcountries. No such questions are tackled here.Despite the lack of an overview, this is an extremely useful book inthat it presents for the first time in English (and German: twoarticles) information about the archaeology of eastern Europe Eastern EuropeThe countries of eastern Europe, especially those that were allied with the USSR in the Warsaw Pact, which was established in 1955 and dissolved in 1991. , in theLate Iron Age, and connections to the west. It is essentially a basictextbook, presenting facts without interpretation. We must hope thatlater symposia will put these facts into context.Similar works reviewing basic material are appearing thick and fast.For example, Die Kontakte zwischen Ostbaltikum und Skandinavien inFruhen Mittelalter (Loit 1992), has recently been published, and othersymposia volumes are in the pipeline. All contain highly detailedarticles on Baltic and Scandinavian Iron Age artefacts, but nowhere arethere works which put these finds into context. The first stage of thisresearch is now published; surely it is time for some articles ofsynthesis?ReferenceLOIT, A. (ed.) 1992. Die Kontakte zwischen Ostbaltikum undSkandinavien in Fruhen Mittelalter. Stockholm: University of Stockholm,Centre for Baltic Studies. Acta Universitatis Stockholmensis, StudiaBaltica Stockholmiensia 9.