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

Marika Mägi, Ph.D. (2002), Tartu University, is senior research fellow at the Centre for Medieval Studies at Tallinn University. She is an archaeologist and historian, and has published mainly on Viking Age and Middle Ages in Estonia and neighbouring areas.

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.""This is unarguably a very important, rich and often well-conceived work with many profound analyses of the source material. For the first time, an experienced archaeologist has brought together the whole archaeological material from the Eastern Baltic region, from Eastern Prussia to Estonia. This is a formidable presentation. I am convinced that this book will for a long time be a standard work of reference for those interested in the Baltic region and the period in question." Johan Callmer, in Journal of Northern Studies 13 (2019).

• Preface and AcknowledgementsList of IllustrationsList of Abbreviations1 Viking Age Cultural Contacts across The Baltic Sea: Behind the Interpretations1.1 The Evolutionary Development Model1.2 Eastern Baltic Archaeology and the Concepts of Different Cultural Impacts1.3 The Character of Communications across the Baltic Sea1.4 Conclusions2 Clan-Based Collectivists or Hierarchical Individualists? Late Prehistoric Societies in the Eastern Baltic2.1 Finland2.2 Estonia2.3 Latvia and Lithuania2.4 Prussia2.5 Comparing Social Systems in Different Regions in the Eastern Baltic2.6 Conclusions3 Making Trade: Cultural Landscapes and Communication Routes3.1 Maritime Landscapes in Countries around the Baltic3.2 Long-distance Trade Routes through the Eastern Baltic3.3 Travelling along Viking Age Routes3.4 Points in Communication3.5 Different Modes of Communication in the Eastern Baltic3.6 Conclusions4 The Historical Reality: Places, Place Names, and Ethnonyms in Written Sources4.1 Estland(s) in the East4.2 Pre-viking and Viking Age Eastern Baltic in Scandinavian Sources4.3 What Was Rus’?4.4 Languages and Personal Names4.5 Conclusions5 Networks Take Shape: Communication Through the Eastern Baltic 600–8505.1 Cultural Situation around the Northern Part of the Baltic Sea5.2 Viking Colonies in the Southern Half of the Eastern Baltic5.3 Pre-viking Period Hill-Forts and Trade Centres along the Eastern Baltic Coast5.4 Conclusions6 West Goes East: Viking Age Long-distance Communication and the Eastern Baltic 850-ca. 10006.1 Viking Age Centres Connected with International Trade Routes in the Eastern Baltic6.2 Cultural Landscapes along the Eastern Way6.3 Cultural Landscapes in the Middle Part of the Eastern Baltic6.4 Coin Finds in the Eastern Baltic6.5 Interpreting Routes and Centres in the 9th–10th Centuries6.6 Conclusions7 Between Consolidating States. The Eastern Baltic Areas in the 11th and 12th Centuries7.1 Interaction with Scandinavian Kingdoms7.2 Northern Eastern Baltic in the Final Centuries of Prehistory7.3 The East Attacks7.4 Landscapes around the Daugava Route7.5 Southern Couronian Coast7.6 Coins and Trade7.7 Conclusions8 Summing up and Conclusions8.1 Two Cultural Spheres in the Eastern Baltic8.2 The Shared Cultural Sphere of Warriors8.3 Written Sources and Places on the Eastern Coasts of the Baltic Sea8.4 Different Periods in the Viking AgeBibliography Index