CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

THE VIKINGS IN THE EAST

Fjodor Androshchuk

T

he number of Scandinavian artefacts from the Viking Age found in eastern Europe
is much larger than that in western Europe and even in Denmark (Figure 38. 1 ).
This material is known in different regions of the modern independent states of Russia,
Ukraine and Belarus and also in the south-eastern Baltic area. These finds came from
fortified and unfortified urban and rural settlements, from graves and hoards; there were
also stray finds.

VIKINGS IN THE SOUTH-EASTERN BALTIC AREA:

GROBIN ̧A AND WISKIAUTEN

Latvia and the Kaliningrad region are two areas that have yielded a large quantity of
Scandinavian jewellery (Apala and Apals 1992 ; Atga ̄zis 1992 ; Jansson 1992 ; Kulakow
1992 ). Single finds of jewellery, swords and scabbard chapes have also come from
Lithuania, where they were found in a local cultural context (Kazakevicˇius 1992 ).
A large number of Scandinavian artefacts were found in two barrows (Priediens II,
Pora ̄ni) and a flat (Rudzukalns I) cemetery of the Iron Age at Grobin ̧a (Nerman 1958 ;
Petrenko 1991 ; Jansson 1994 ; Lamm and Urta ̄ns 1995 ). Scandinavian male and female
artefacts, typical for sites and cemeteries in central Sweden and Gotland in the Vendel
and Viking periods were found here. Recently researchers have pointed out some south
Scandinavian parallels in the Vendel material of Grobin ̧a ( Jansson 1994 : 14 – 15 ). In one
of the barrows a fragment of a shield and a stone stele of the Gotlandic type from the
Vendel period came to light (Petrenko 1991 ; Lamm and Urta ̄ns 1995 ). It had been
suggested that some of the population from central Sweden left barrow cemeteries,
while people from Gotland were buried in flat graves (Nerman 1958 ). However, new
excavations have yielded a number of cremation graves of local character, which were
connected to the Curonian population. On the basis of the polyethnic character of the
revealed remains, Grobin ̧a was considered as a trade centre (Petrenko and Virse 1993 :
102 ). However, a settlement investigated south-west of the Priediens cemetery (Lamm
and Urta ̄ns 1995 : 14 ) has a local character without any indication of trade. The Scandi-
navian cultural elements of Grobin ̧a are usually discussed in association with another
centre, Wiskiauten or Kaup (the modern village of Mokhovoe in the Kaliningrad