The Baltic in the Bronze Age: Regional Patterns, Interactions and Boundaries

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.