Abstract:

The Bronze Age is a time of increasing interaction with large-scale connections that cover vast parts of Europe. Some parts and regions of the Bronze Age are very well explored and for some very strong narratives of hierarchisation and differentiation, dependence on external raw material supplies and specialisation have been proposed.

In other regions, however, only some of these aspects appear, even though networks of contact would at least have been possible. This is the case in the Baltic area, where western and eastern regions show dramatic differences in subsistence, the amounts of metal produced and deposited (and therefore presumably the social role of metal), the settlement pattern and scale of social groups. A particularly interesting question is the intensity of culture contact that the eastern Baltic regions entertained across the sea with Scandinavia and also with directly neighbouring continental regions.

This volume brings together scholars from all regions around the Baltic Sea to discuss different aspects of Bronze Age interactions. It offers a perspective on regional and interregional connectivity and exchange beyond the usual large-scale models discussed in Bronze Age archaeology and includes both case studies of individual regions or finds categories and broader overview papers focusing on the diversity of interconnections − and their sometimes striking absence.

Contents

Introduction: The Baltic in the Bronze Age world
Daniela Hofmann, Frank Nikulka, Robert Schumann

OBJECTS

Shared symbols and values. On Nordic disc pins and deposition practices in the eastern Baltic
Uwe Sperling and Daniel Sahlén

Local perspectives on innovation and dispersal of new technologies in northern foraging societies: lithics, ceramics and early metallurgy in northern Sweden
Lars Forsberg

Swords and sword-bearers across the Baltic Sea in the Early Bronze Age
Jan-Heinrich Bunnefeld

The arrowheads of the Tollense Valley. From use-wear analysis to the sequence of violence
Hella Harten-Buga; Birte Meller; Thomas Terberger; Frank Nikulka; Detlef Jantzen; Jörg Orschiedt

Craftspeople in the Late Bronze Age: bone and antler working at fortified settlements in the eastern Baltic region
Heidi Luik

Hoards, metallurgy and points. Proposal of an analytical tool for describing hoards with components related to metalworking
Marcin Maciejewski and Kamil Nowak

“Kannelurensteine” — balance weights of the Bronze Age?
Nicola Ialongo and Lorenz Rahmstorf

From the seaside to the inland. Comparing Late Bronze Age pottery production and styles in the eastern Baltic
Vanda Visocka, Vytenis Podėnas, Uwe Sperling

SITES, REGIONS AND LANDSCAPES

Settlement patterns in the Bronze Age western Baltic – comparisons at different regional scales
Jutta Kneisel, Stefanie Schaefer-Di Maida, Ingo Feeser

The emergence of fortified settlements in Bronze Age Lithuania: a new model
Algimantas Merkevičius

Interpreting Bronze and Iron Age enclosed spaces, fortifications and boundaries in the western Baltic
Jutta Kneisel, Inge Beilke-Voigt, Oliver Nakoinz

Stone Age–Early Metal Period transition in the southern Finnish lake district: incipient forest grazing and temporary burning practices
Kerkko Nordqvist, Teija Alenius and Chiara Molinari

The Bronze Age culture in Finland from the perspective of the 2020s
Mika Lavento

The Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age transition in the lower Oder and the Oder lagoon region from settlement and environmental perspectives
Katarzyna Ślusarska

CONNECTIONS

Peripheral or non-peripheral? The “world view” of the Bronze Age people in the eastern Baltic
Agnė Čivilytė

Bronze Age globalisation in numbers: volumes of trade and its organisation
Kristian Kristiansen

Bloody warriors? The Tollense valley conflict and its relation to the Baltic Sea region
Detlef Jantzen and Gundula Lidke

Bronze Age cultural changes, population movements, and the formation of the Proto-Finnic ethnos
Valter Lang

Baltic stone ships. Monuments of a “maritory” in Late Bronze Age northern Europe
Joakim Wehlin