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The Western Baltic culture (; also known as (West Baltic circle), ) was the westernmost branch of the
Balts The Balts or Baltic peoples ( lt, baltai, lv, balti) are an ethno-linguistic group of peoples who speak the Baltic languages of the Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. One of the features of Baltic languages is the number o ...
, representing a distinct
archaeological culture An archaeological culture is a recurring assemblage of types of artifacts, buildings and monuments from a specific period and region that may constitute the material culture remains of a particular past human society. The connection between these ...
of the
Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...
and Iron Age, along the southern coast of the
Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...
. It is a zone of several small archaeological cultures that were ethnically Baltic and had similar cultural features (e.g. similar monuments or some features of the
funeral rite A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect th ...
). They included tribes such as the
Old Prussians Old Prussians, Baltic Prussians or simply Prussians (Old Prussian: ''prūsai''; german: Pruzzen or ''Prußen''; la, Pruteni; lv, prūši; lt, prūsai; pl, Prusowie; csb, Prësowié) were an indigenous tribe among the Baltic peoples that ...
, Galindians,
Yotvingians Yotvingians (also called: Sudovians, Jatvians, or Jatvingians; Yotvingian: ''Jotvingai''; lt, Jotvingiai, ; lv, Jātvingi; pl, Jaćwingowie, be, Яцвягі, ger, Sudauer) were a Western Baltic people who were closely tied to the Old Prus ...
(or Sudovians) and
Skalvians The Scalovians ( lt, Skalviai; german: Schalauer), also known as the Skalvians, ''Schalwen'' and ''Schalmen'', were a Baltic tribe related to the Prussians. According to the ''Chronicon terrae Prussiae'' of Peter of Dusburg, the now extinct Sca ...
, in addition to the little-known Pomeranian Balts or Western Balts proper, in the area now known as Pomerania.


History

Most of the Western Balts arose from the dating back to the early Iron Age. The Western Baltic culture includes: * (from the end of to the end of the 4th c. A.D., possibly even the end of the 5th c.) * (from the mid-2nd c. A.D. to the end of the 6th c.) * (from the end of the 1st c. A.D. to the beginning of the 6th c.) * (from the end of the 5th c. A.D. to the mid-7th c. or the beginning of the 8th c.) * Elbląg group (from the end of the 5th c. A.D. to the mid-7th c.) * Low German group * West Lithuanian group * Central Lithuanian group


Geography, chronology and ancient mentions

According to Marija Gimbutas, the Baltic culture of the Early and Middle
Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...
covered a territory which, at its maximal extent, included "all of Pomerania almost to the mouth of the
Oder The Oder ( , ; Czech, Lower Sorbian and ; ) is a river in Central Europe. It is Poland's second-longest river in total length and third-longest within its borders after the Vistula and Warta. The Oder rises in the Czech Republic and flows th ...
, and the whole Vistula basin to Silesia in the south-west" before the spread of the Lusatian culture to the region and was inhabited by the ancestors of the later (Baltic)
Old Prussians Old Prussians, Baltic Prussians or simply Prussians (Old Prussian: ''prūsai''; german: Pruzzen or ''Prußen''; la, Pruteni; lv, prūši; lt, prūsai; pl, Prusowie; csb, Prësowié) were an indigenous tribe among the Baltic peoples that ...
. The Western Baltic cultures were located to the north-east of the Wielbark and
Przeworsk Przeworsk (; uk, Переворськ, translit=Perevors'k; yi, פּרשעוואָרסק, translit=Prshevorsk) is a town in south-eastern Poland with 15,675 inhabitants, as of 2 June 2009. Since 1999 it has been in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship ...
cultures, between the
Pasłęka The Pasłęka (german: Passarge; ) is a river in northern Poland that debouches into the Baltic Sea on the Vistula Lagoon near Braniewo. It flows through the Olsztyn and Mrągowo lakelands, and through Gdańsk Coastal Area. The reported length ...
and
Daugava , be, Заходняя Дзвіна (), liv, Vēna, et, Väina, german: Düna , image = Fluss-lv-Düna.png , image_caption = The drainage basin of the Daugava , source1_location = Valdai Hills, Russia , mouth_location = Gulf of Riga, Baltic S ...
rivers. They lived there from the end of until the mid-7th century. According to Tacitus, these areas were inhabited by the
Aesti The Aesti (also Aestii, Astui or Aests) were an ancient people first described by the Roman historian Tacitus in his treatise ''Germania'' (circa 98 AD). According to Tacitus, the land of ''Aesti'' was located somewhere east of the ''Suiones'' (p ...
, while Ptolemy speaks of the Galindians and the
Sudines Sudines (or Soudines) (Greek: Σουδίνες) (fl. c. 240 BC): Babylonian sage. He is mentioned as one of the famous Chaldean mathematicians and astronomer-astrologers by later Roman writers like Strabo (''Geographia'' 16:1–6). Biography Lik ...
.


Art and structures

The Balts decorated their pots by creating "deep incisions and ridges around the neck." Baltic graves consisted of huts made out of timber, or stone
cist A cist ( or ; also kist ; from grc-gre, κίστη, Middle Welsh ''Kist'' or Germanic ''Kiste'') is a small stone-built coffin-like box or ossuary used to hold the bodies of the dead. Examples can be found across Europe and in the Middle East ...
s with floors of pavement "encircled by timber posts".


See also

* Early history of Pomerania *
Dniepr Balts The Dnieper Balts were a subgroup of the Eastern Balts, that lived in the Dnieper river basin for millennia until the Late Middle Ages, when they were partly destroyed and partly assimilated by the Slavs by the 13th century. To the north and nort ...


References


Sources

* * *


See also

* * {{Cite web , last=Kulakov , first=V.I. , title=Памятники археологии Калининградской области , trans-title=Archaeological monuments of the Kaliningrad region , url=http://www.archaeology.ru/ONLINE/Kulakov/kulakov.html , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101214015531/http://www.archaeology.ru/ONLINE/Kulakov/kulakov.html , archive-date=2010-12-14 , language=ru Baltic archaeological cultures Ancient peoples Pomerania Prehistoric Poland Prehistory of Prussia