Due to its favourable location both from a regional and a trans-Baltic viewpoint,
Birka came to play a central role in the Baltic trade up to the time when it was
abandoned. At the same time, Birka was one of the most important points of departure
for trade voyages via the Eastern Route, which commenced somewhat later than the
Viking raids in western Europe. One of the two most important routes to Russia and
Byzantium led across the Baltic to the Duna River in present-day Latvia, while the
other, mentioned in medieval sources, led via Åland and the sheltered archipelago of
south-western Finland to Hanko Peninsula and Porkkala on the southern Finnish coast.
One could either sail south from Porkkala to Lindanes (today’s Tallinn) and then east-
ward along the Estonian coast, or one could follow Finland’s south coast from Hanko
onwards. In either case, the objective was the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of
Finland, which led to the open waters of Lake Ladoga. From Lake Ladoga one could
either follow the River Svir to Lake Onega or take the Volkhov towards the south and
the heartland of present-day Russia.
Evidence of the Scandinavians appears in many places along the water routes to the
Black Sea, and it is often difficult to assess their meaning. Grave mounds of Scandina-
vian type and containing Scandinavian grave goods are found, for instance, at Gnezdovo
near Smolensk, an imposing cemetery containing more than 4 , 500 grave monuments.
On the other hand, the Scandinavian-type grave finds from the south-eastern shore of
Lake Ladoga come from kurgan burials of local type.
The archaeological material has been said to contain no evidence to support the idea
that the Finns took part in the Viking voyages, not even on the Eastern Route, but
Åland may be an exception. It has been pointed out that the Viking Age hoards from
Åland consist exclusively of Islamic coins, which were presumably obtained by the local
people themselves on voyages to the east. The Islamic coins found in western Finnish
graves and hoards were probably brought to Finland by Viking voyagers, who were not
necessarily Finns. It has been noted that the coin finds from the northern coast of
the Gulf of Finland are best characterised as traces left by the transiting Vikings, and
that aside from a few Finnish round brooches, no finds of Finnish character are known
from the Russian water routes. That is the classical interpretation of the route, in
Scandinavian as well as in Russian archaeology.
New observations based on travelling with reconstructed Viking ships, however,
seem to indicate that sailing on the rivers in north-west Russia was more complicated
than previously thought. Since the water level in the rivers Volkhov and Lovat must
have been much lower during the Viking Age than nowadays, some Russian scholars
believe that some of the most important rivers were in fact not navigable at all during
the Viking Age, at least not with heavy oak-built ships. Instead it has been stressed that
travel in north-west Russia by horse and sledge on the frozen plains and on the ice of the
rivers enables longer distances to be covered in relatively short periods, at least when
travelling upstream. Several written accounts of Viking Age winter travel, for instance
by Snorri, support the importance of this version of travelling in the east.
Viking Age trading voyages were usually arranged by a group of men who outfitted a
ship together, or by traders who obtained part of their trade goods from others who
stayed home but received a share of the profits afterwards. Trading voyages were under-
taken primarily by men. It has been noted that Viking Age male costumes were almost
identical all over the Baltic area and that Finnish men also followed this fashion, while
the women were more conservative as far as dress was concerned. Since the weapons
–– Torsten Edgren––