Acta Archaeologica 92.2 [with Inga Merkyte & Søren Albek]

2002

In Late Neolithic Europe, amber beads and pendants were initially mainly made in the coastal zone of the Baltic Sea, due to the presence of amber washed up by the Litorina Sea. There were four principal localized zones of Neolithic amber artifacts in this region: the eastern Baltic, the mouth of the Vistula River, Jutland and Skone, and Fennoscandinavia. The British Isles are regarded as a fifth zone. As the popular scientific literature has so far provided scant information on the amber-working zone of the eastern Baltic, this article summarizes the findings revealed by extensive archaeological research, particularly during the past forty years.

Archaeologia Lituana, 2011

The Amber Roads, 2016

In this paper the Author presents the results of his studies on Stone Age use and popularisation of amber in the distinct South Baltic macro-region (Vistula macro-region). The paper provides analysis of the cultural, chronological and regional characteristic of the finds, different potential uses of amber and its processing, as well as the development of local and long-distance amber exchange. The author also discusses some aspects of how the exchange was organized, the methods of transportation and goods offered as exchange for amber. The last part presents a general overview of amber use and working (processing) by the Late Neolithic people (RZC) in the Niedźwiedziówka micro-region. Niedźwiedziówka remains the largest concentration in the world of seasonal camps with remnants of hundreds of amber-processing workshops, thousands of halffinished ornamental products, industrial waste and tools.

The spread of amber in Lithuania and its popularity over different periods, application of amber in ornament production, changing trends in amber jewelry wear as well as the links of these customs with gender, sex, and, more generally, with the Lithuanian ivorld outlook, are the issues usually discussed based on ungrounded assumptions that the amber artifacts found in Lithuanian burial sites and the cultural strata of hill-forts and settlements had originated from the Lithuanian coast. It is unexpected, but credible possibility, that Baltic Sea amber artifacts, belonging to different archeological sites across Lithuania, are not only local products, but also imports via different trade routes. As far as analysis of Lithuanian amber artifacts has established, raw amber was exported from the coast southwards. Lathed and semi-lathed amber beads found at the cemeteries in central Lithuania, the lower Nemunas region and even in coastal Lithuania and dated to the late Roman Iron Age—early Migration period, are imports of several workshops in the lower Vistula, Kuiavia areas, Mazurian Lakeland, Sambian peninsula and other regions. On the other hand, it should be noted, that amber beads of common shapes known since the Roman Iron Age onwards, figure-eight shaped beads-pendants and these of other less common shapes, as well as beads and other amber artifacts typical of the Vendel and the Viking Age were produced by local amber crafstmen in coastal Lithuania.

(in:) Rica Annaert (ed.) Early medieval waterscapes Risks and opportunities for (im)material cultural exchange, Neue Studien zur Sachsenforschung 8, 2019

The value of amber has long been discussed in the context of long-distance contact and trade, also in the Roman and Migrations periods. The role of trade in amber gathered in Sambia or in the Vistula Lagoon region has been particularly emphasised. The paper discusses another source of amber which could be possible explored on economically significant scale, i.e. the amber occurring on the western and northern coasts of Jutland. At present, it seems that several arguments can be shown in its support. The starting point for our discussion are Late Roman Period and early Migration Period burials from southern Scandinavia in which amber played the role of obol, i.e. a medium of payment. The concentration of amber obols in Jutland, especially in the Esbjerg region, may speak for a considerable role of this raw material in local economies. The latter interpretation is based on the assumption that objects used as obols had a real or symbolic value as a medium of payment. This apparently great importance of amber in the region can be connected with its local acquisition and processing performed on an economically significant scale. These observations can be corroborated by the tendencies observed with respect to size and composition of necklaces in Jutland, which possibly point to a temporary importance of yet another amber-bearing area, namely the Limfjord region. Since spindle-shaped amber obols clearly concentrate in Jutland, isolated finds of such artefacts in single graves in regions such as Scania, Zealand, the triangle between the Elbe and Weser, and Gdańsk Pomerania can be interpreted as one reflection of contact with western Jutland, contact which could have been to some extent inspired by trade in amber. In this context also the trade in amber with Roman provinces was shortly discussed.

2015

Interest in the archaeological amber industry goes back a long time and has produced a wealth of literature, as is demonstrated by extensive bibliographies. I refer those interested in specific issues to these. In this paper I shall focus on a brief presentation of several questions. Most attention is devoted to the question of the beginning of amber's world career, in particular its Central European origins. They call for a broader treatment, especially when one considers readers who focus on the Mediterranean. In addition, I shall discuss in general terms the synchronisation of chronologies between Central Europe and the Aegean, as well as the routes of north-south circulation of amber.

Fennoscandia archaeologica, 2011