In __Austrvegr__: The Role of the Eastern Baltic in Viking Age Communication across the Baltic Sea

This volume offers a novel, trans-regional vision of Viking Age (9th-11th century) cultural and political contacts between Scandinavia and the eastern coasts of the Baltic Sea, using predominantly archaeological evidence, combined with historical sources, topography and logistical considerations. In Austrvegr: The Role of the Eastern Baltic in Viking Age Communication across the Baltic Sea 3 Copyright 4 Dedication 5 Contents 7 Preface and Acknowledgements 13 List of Figures, Table and Diagrams 16 List of Abbreviations 20 1 Viking Age Cultural Contacts across the Baltic Sea: Behind the Interpretations 21 1.1 The Evolutionary Development Model 24 1.2 Eastern Baltic Achaeology and Concepts of Different Cultural Impacts 28 1.2.1 Germanic “Culture Carriers” and the Gothic Theory 29 1.2.2 Discussing Ethnicities within the Eastern Baltic 32 1.2.3 Eastern Influences – The Russian Question 33 1.2.4 Ideas of Scandinavian Impact 35 1.3 The Character of Communications across the Baltic Sea 37 1.3.1 Viking Age Trade in Northern Europe 38 1.3.2 Trade or War? The Character of Viking Age Overseas Interaction 41 1.3.3 Ethnic Factors in East-West Overseas Interaction 42 1.3.4 Interpreting the “Scandinavian” in Archaeological Evidence 44 1.4 Conclusions 48 2 Clan-Based Collectivists or Hierarchical Individualists? Late Prehistoric Societies in the Eastern Baltic 49 2.1 Finland 50 2.2 Estonia 54 2.2.1 From Egalitarian Society to Deep Social Stratification 58 2.2.2 Clan Societies with Corporate Power Structures 61 2.3 Latvia and Lithuania 65 2.3.1 Latgallian Society 69 2.3.2 The Livs 72 2.3.3 Couronia – The Land of Different Ethnicities 81 2.3.4 Military Societies in Late Prehistoric Latvia 88 2.3.5 Central Baltic Lands – Semgallia, Zhemaitia, and Selonia 91 2.3.6 The Rest of Inland Lithuania 95 2.4 Prussia 96 2.5 Comparing Social Systems in Different Regions in the Eastern Baltic 98 2.5.1 Collectivism versus Individuality 99 2.5.2 Weapons and Warriors 101 2.5.3 Gender Relations 102 2.5.3.1 Weapons in Female Graves 104 2.5.3.2 Matrilineality Written in Legislation? 106 2.6 Conclusions 108 3 Making Trade: Cultural Landscapes and Communication Routes 111 3.1 Maritime Landscapes in Countries around the Baltic 112 3.1.1 Appearance of Harbour Sites 113 3.1.2 Viking Age Maritime Landscapes 114 3.1.3 Movement of Harbours in the 11th–12th Centuries 115 3.2 Long-distance Trade Routes through the Eastern Baltic 117 3.2.1 Austrvegr – The Way to the Volga 117 3.2.2 The Daugava Way 121 3.2.3 The “Route from the Varangians to the Greeks” 121 3.2.4 Alternative Route through Pskov and Polotsk 122 3.2.5 Alternative Route through Central Estonian River and Wetland Systems 124 3.2.6 Routes along Latvian and Lithuanian Medium-sized Rivers 126 3.2.7 The Amber Way and the Route along the Nemunas (Memel) River 126 3.3 Travelling along Viking Age Routes 127 3.3.1 Winter and Early Spring Routes 127 3.3.2 Choosing the Means of Travel 129 3.3.3 Near the Coast and at Open Sea 131 3.3.4 On Inland Waters 134 3.4 Points in Communication 137 3.4.1 Early Urban Centres in the Eastern Baltic Lands 138 3.4.2 Settlements with Hill-forts and Hill-forts as Trade Centres 141 3.4.3 Harbour Sites and Possible Trade Centres 146 3.5 Different Modes of Communication in the Eastern Baltic 150 3.5.1 Culture Contacts and Colonisation 151 3.5.2 Sphere of Shared Cultural Values in the Northern Half of the Baltic Sea 152 3.5.3 The Middle Ground in the Southern Half of the Eastern Baltic 155 3.6 Conclusions 158 4 The Historical Reality: Places, Place Names, and Ethnonyms in Written Sources 161 4.1 Estland(s) in the East 164 4.2 Pre-viking and Viking Age Eastern Baltic in Scandinavian Sources 172 4.2.1 Austrvegr and Garðaríki 175 4.2.2 Garðaríki, Hólmgarðaríki, Rússía 178 4.2.3 Viking Raids to Garðaríki 182 4.2.4 Saxo’s Mythical World 185 4.2.5 Finland 187 4.2.6 Estland 191 4.2.7 Livland 194 4.2.8 Kúrland 197 4.2.9 Kúrland-Samland-Saaremaa 199 4.2.10 Sam-land and Sam-island 202 4.2.11 Eastern Baltic Places on Runic Stones 204 4.2.12 Different Place Names in Different Times 206 4.2.13 From Common Cultural Milieu to Religious Conflict 210 4.3 What Was Rus’? 212 4.3.1 Rus’ as Ethnonym 212 4.3.2 First Mention of Rus’ – The Story in the Annales Bertiniani 215 4.3.3 Rūs and Saqāliba 219 4.3.4 Islamic Sources and the Island of Rūs 221 4.3.5 The Legend of Three Brothers 226 4.3.6 Who Were the Chud’? 228 4.4 Languages and Personal Names 231 4.5 Conclusions 235 5 Networks Take Shape: Communication Through the Eastern Baltic 600–850 237 5.1 Cultural Situation around the Northern Part of the Baltic Sea 238 5.1.1 Swedish Warriors in Finland and Estonia? 238 5.1.2 Eastern Scandinavians’ Cultural Impact to the Northern Baltic Shores 242 5.1.3 First Vikings at Salme 253 5.1.4 Ynglinga-Kings Adventuring in the East 260 5.2 Viking Colonies in the Southern Half of the Eastern Baltic 262 5.2.1 The First Viking Colony in the East – Grobiņa 263 5.2.2 Battles for Seeburg and Aputra 266 5.2.3 Commercial Nodal Point or Agrarian Colonisation? 269 5.2.4 Centres on the Amber Way 271 5.3 Pre-viking Period Hill-Forts and Trade Centres along the Eastern Baltic Coast 275 5.3.1 Pre-viking Age Centres along the Estonian Coast and East of It 278 5.3.2 Hill-Forts Indicating River-Routes 283 5.4 Conclusions 284 6 West Goes East: Viking Age Long-distance Communication and the Eastern Baltic 850-ca. 1000 286 6.1 Viking Age Centres Connected with International Trade Routes in the Eastern Baltic 287 6.1.1 Centres Connected with Trade in the Southern Half of the Eastern Baltic 288 6.2 Cultural Landscapes along the Eastern Way 290 6.2.1 Viking Age Centre at Iru 293 6.2.2 Viking Age Centre in the Vicinity of Medieval Tallinn? 296 6.2.3 The Surroundings of the Tallinn Bay in Written Sources 299 6.2.4 Hill-Forts and Settlements in the Rest of Northern Estonian Coast 300 6.2.5 Estonian Northern Coast in Saxo’s Mythological Stories? 305 6.2.6 Hill-Forts in West Estonia and Estonian islands 308 6.2.7 Vikings both in Sweden and in the Eastern Coasts of the Baltic? 310 6.2.8 Jewellery from Sýslar in Other Countries 317 6.2.9 Adventures of a Norwegian Prince in Estland 320 6.2.10 Inland Estonian Hill-Forts and Settlements 323 6.2.11 Tableware Mirroring Cultural Contacts 328 6.3 Cultural Landscapes in the Middle Part of the Eastern Baltic 330 6.3.1 Hill-Forts and Settlements along the Daugava River 330 6.3.2 Saxo’s Hellespont 337 6.3.3 Egil’s Adventures in Couronia 341 6.3.4 Changing Burial Customs in Couronia and in the Estuary of the Daugava River 345 6.4 Coin Finds in the Eastern Baltic 347 6.4.1 Dirhams 349 6.4.2 Particularities of Dirham Finds 352 6.4.3 The End of the Boom in the Eastern Trade 354 6.4.4 Byzantine Coins in the Eastern Baltic 357 6.5 Interpreting Routes and Centres in the 9th–10th Centuries 359 6.5.1 Indicators of Trade Places 360 6.5.2 Distribution of Silver and Trade Wares 363 6.5.3 The Long 10th Century 364 6.6 Conclusions 366 7 Between Consolidating States: The Eastern Baltic Areas in the 11th and 12th Centuries 368 7.1 Interaction with Scandinavian Kingdoms 369 7.1.1 Swedish Struggle to Retain Its Dominion in the Eastern Baltic 369 7.1.1.1 The First Viking Expedition of Prince Óláf 370 7.1.1.2 King Óláf Skötkonung’s Problems with His Overseas Countries 372 7.1.2 Austurveg-Men and Christians from the West 374 7.1.2.1 Pirates from Kúrland and Estland 377 7.1.2.2 Defeat in Blekinge 380 7.1.2.3 Attack on Sigtuna 382 7.1.3 The Beginning of Crusades 385 7.2 Northern Eastern Baltic in the Final Centuries of Prehistory 386 7.2.1 North Estonian Harbour Sites and Big Hill-forts 387 7.2.2 “Towns” and Christians on the Late Prehistoric Estonian Coast 390 7.2.3 The Prime of the Urnes Style 391 7.2.4 Political Centres in Inland Estonia 396 7.3 The East Attacks 399 7.3.1 Battles for Tartu 400 7.3.2 Clash between Russian Princes and Syslar 401 7.3.3 Other Fights between the Chud’ and the Princedoms of Novgorod and Pskov 404 7.3.4 Relations between the Princedom of Novgorod, Karelia, and Finland 405 7.3.5 Polotsk and the Control of Russian Princes over the Daugava River 406 7.4 Landscapes around the Daugava Route 407 7.4.1 Latgallian Hill-forts and Princedoms 407 7.4.2 Settlements on the Lower Daugava River 409 7.4.3 Ethnic Diversity in the Cemeteries on the lower Daugava River 412 7.4.4 Agents of Change in the Lower Reaches of the Daugava River 418 7.4.5 The Beginning of Riga 423 7.5 Southern Couronian Coast 424 7.6 Coins and Trade 427 7.6.1 Coins and Hoards in the 11th–12th Centuries 428 7.6.2 The Baltic Rim Seen from Sicily 432 7.6.3 Mercantile Point of View of “Towns” around the Baltic 435 7.7 Conclusions 439 8 Summing up and Conclusions 441 8.1 Two Cultural Spheres in the Eastern Baltic 442 8.2 The Shared Cultural Sphere of Warriors 443 8.3 Written Sources and Places on the Eastern Coasts of the Baltic Sea 444 8.4 Different Periods in the Viking Age 447 Bibliography 451 Index 493 Winner of the Early Slavic Studies Association 2018 Book Prize Marika Mägi's book considers the cultural, mercantile and political interaction of the Viking Age (9th-11th century), focusing on the eastern coasts of the Baltic Sea. The majority of research on Viking activity in the East has so far concentrated on the modern-day lands of Russia, while the archaeology and Viking Age history of today's small nation states along the eastern coasts of the Baltic Sea is little known to a global audience.This study looks at the area from a trans-regional perspective, combining archaeological evidence with written sources, and offering reflections on the many different factors of climate, topography, logistics, technology, politics and trade that shaped travel in this period. The work offers a nuanced vision of Eastern Viking expansion, in which the Eastern Baltic frequently acted as buffer zone between eastern and western powers. Winner of the Early Slavic Studies Association 2018 Book Prize for most outstanding recent scholarly monograph on pre-modern Slavdom. The work was described by the prize committee in the following terms:'The scope of this book is far broader than the title might suggest. It amounts to a substantial rethinking of the history of the eastern Baltic from the tenth to the thirteenth century, based on both archaelogical and written evidence. The author is by training an archaeologist, and she mounts a powerful criticism of historians who prioritise the written sources and then pick and choose from the archaeological evidence to suit their theories. This book foregrounds the archaeology, which is used to question and consider the written evidence. The author is also highly and rightly critical of the archaeological scholarship, for projecting back into the past the narrow concerns of the numerous nation states that now exist across the eastern and northern Baltic, or the Great Russian nationalist-materialist-imperialist interpretations of the Soviet period. The result is a detailed and fascinating account of the interactions of the worlds of Scandinavia and Rusʹ with the various peoples of the Baltic region, both Finno-Ugric and Baltic. The resulting picture of commercial, political, and cultural interaction across several cultures, and based on reading in a wide range of languages, is a tour-de-force.' Marika Mägi's book considers the cultural, mercantile and political interaction of the Viking Age (9th-11th century), focusing on the eastern coasts of the Baltic Sea. The majority of research on Viking activity in the East has so far concentrated on the modern-day lands of Russia, while the archaeology and Viking Age history of today's small nation states along the eastern coasts of the Baltic Sea is little known to a global audience. This study looks at the area from a trans-regional perspective, combining archaeological evidence with written sources, and offering reflections on the many different factors of climate, topography, logistics, technology, politics and trade that shaped travel in this period. The work offers a nuanced vision of Eastern Viking expansion, in which the Eastern Baltic frequently acted as buffer zone between eastern and western powers. Winner of the Early Slavic Studies Association 2018 Book Prize for most outstanding recent scholarly monograph on pre-modern Slavdom. The work was described by the prize committee in the following terms: \'The scope of this book is far broader than the title might suggest. It amounts to a substantial rethinking of the history of the eastern Baltic from the tenth to the thirteenth century, based on both archaelogical and written evidence. The author is by training an archaeologist, and she mounts a powerful criticism of historians who prioritise the written sources and then pick and choose from the archaeological evidence to suit their theories. This book foregrounds the archaeology, which is used to question and consider the written evidence. The author is also highly and rightly critical of the archaeological scholarship, for projecting back into the past the narrow concerns of the numerous nation states that now exist across the eastern and northern Baltic, or the Great Russian nationalist-materialist-imperialist interpretations of the Soviet period. The result is a detailed and fascinating account of the interactions of the worlds of Scandinavia and Rusʹ with the various peoples of the Baltic region, both Finno-Ugric and Baltic. The resulting picture of commercial, political, and cultural interaction across several cultures, and based on reading in a wide range of languages, is a tour-de-force.\' La 4e de couverture indique : "Marika Mägi's book considers the cultural, mercantile and political interaction of the Viking Age (9th-11th century), focusing on the eastern coasts of the Baltic Sea. The majority of research on Viking activity in the East has so far concentrated on the modern-day lands of Russia, while the archaeology and Viking Age history of today's small nation states along the eastern coasts of the Baltic Sea is little known to a global audience. This study looks at the area from a trans-regional perspective, combining archaeological evidence with written sources, and offering reflections on the many different factors of climate, topography, logistics, technology, politics and trade that shaped travel in this period. The work offers a nuanced vision of Eastern Viking expansion, in which the Eastern Baltic frequently acted as buffer zone between eastern and western powers."