Tomasz NOWAKIEWICZ Galindiain the VikingAge New Shape of the Culture Galindia is one of the Prussian tribal lands. which is 1o- catęd on the periphery of thę Balt culturalprovince. Thę Tul,.,o,u geographical localisation by the Ptolemy and name of Galindia has bęęn ręcorded in a few historical the Liber census Daniae's relations is possibly limited. SourcęS.The first information about this land is con- only Teutonic SourcęSlet to place more precisely this nęctęd with thę initial stage of ręsęarching Baltic Sea land into the map of Prussia. All this information had amber coast: in the beginning of the 2ndcentury Klau- been used by Caspar Hannenberger,who had drawn dios Ptolemaios (..Ptolemy'')placed Galindai (fd'ryÓaą a map of tribal Prussia in the end of 16'hcentury (his Nowakowski 2003) among the other ethnic groups of map was a kind of the cartographic commentary to Peter North-EuropeanB arbaricumt . Dusburg's Chronocon Tbrra Prussiae)6. There are not the early mediaeval sources, which Every data shows, that Galindia was locatęd in the could be undoubtedly connectęd with Prussian Masurian Lakęland (NE Poland). Galindia bordered Galindia2. Since the time of Ptolemy until thę Mid- with the othęrPrussian lands (Sasinia, Bartia,Nadrovia, dle Ages Galindia had been unknown in the written Sudavia ) in the west, north and east but southern Galin- sources, but after more than 1000 years, the name of dia frontier was located in swampy and inhospitable Galindia was mentioned again, in thę Same geographi- area,betwęen Prussian tęrritoriesand Slavonic province cal context and in thę similar phonetically form. The Masovia. Although the width of the frontier Zonę was Danish document from l2l0 - Liber censuum Daniae, rather big, it wasn't impossiblę to cross thę border.onę mentions Galindia (Galindo), among other Prussian of the common, Slavonic - Prussian relations' signs is and (partly) Lithuanian tęrritories, as the feud of Dan- the system of the early mediaeval routes, recognised in ish Kingdom3. Propaganda way of thę Liber Censuum Masovian side of the frontięr and entering into Galindi- Daniae's sense is clear, but it doesn't change the sig- an forest (Kowalczyk1999;2003:68 ff.). The other elę- nificance of the previously mentioned sourcę' which ments of this frontier zone aręthe ramparts (Kowatczyk confirms' from thę Danish point of view, presence of 2003:219 ff.).They were built in the VikingAge but the Galindia in thę circle of known territorięs in the end of precise chronology is unknown. It is not clear,who were the Viking Age. the walls'buildęrs: the Masovians or the Prussians7? In the 30's of the 14thcentury Peter Dusburg, Teu- tonic chroniclęr and the author of Chronicon Terra {<*{< Prussiae, mentionęd Galindia (Galindia) as one of the Archaeolosical ręsearch of Prussian cultural differen- greattribal lands of Prussiansa.He recordedthę fabulous tiation O.rri"ngthe Viking Age is absolutely insufficient. story about the depopulationof this land, too. So-called Thanks to German investigation, the bęst-recognised legend of Galindia by Dusburg, was the explanation of aręa of thę Prussian Viking Age settlemęntis Samland. the peculiar social and settlementcircumstances: during But even there, it is almost nothing morę, than matęri- Teutonic crusadę in the 13thcentury the Christian con- als from one type sitess.In effect, the information about quęrors tręatędonly Galindia in the whole Prussia area, the Viking Age in Samland is based on archive material as the depopulated territory (terra remanent desolata). from cemęteries.But, by the general view, the Prussian It is easy to see that Galindia stands in the written sęacoastzone (from the Vistula river to the Neman river sourcesby a special way: it had already been mentioned deltas)seęms to be recognisedrelatively well- it is pos- in thę 2ndcentury (as the first Prussian tribal land, which sible to expręSsthe first thesis, at leastg.Comparing to is known by its own namę) and mentioned again, after the background of thę seacoast Prussia, the hinterland more than 1000 years. Very brief form of theserelations must be defined as absolutely unknown. is recognisęd too. The first dętailed data about Galin- Until the end of the German state in Prussia, only dia is a Peter Dusburg's licentia poetica from thę 14.h a few of the trial trenchęshad bęęn undertakenin the centurys. Galindian hill-forts ("the days" in Bosemb by Georg 162 REGIONALPROBLEMS Fig. I. Archaeologicalsites known in Galindia(until half of 90's of 20thcentury) l. Boże/ Bosemb;2. Jeziorko/ Jęsziorken;3. Pasym/ Passenheim;4. Cerkiewnik;5. Franknowo. 10 Fig. 2. The Viking Age sitesin the SalętLake region: |: hill-tbrtRydwągi I; 2: hill-fortRydwągi II (SchanzeJerusalem according to G. Bujack); 3: open settlementnear Rydwągi (accordingto the map of Georg J. F. Has- se|fiom 30's of 20thcentury, Mellin-WyczÓłkowska 1999: 180); 4: settlementcornplex at Bosemb l BoŻe(the open t-armsand the tower), 5: remainsof the otherearly mediaeval construction (the tower?) at Boze; 6: opensettlement at RtrskaWieś; 7: hoardof Marienhof: 8: settlementcomplex at Wyszembork (theopen f-annsand the tower?); 9: settlernentcomplex at Szestno- Czarny Las (theopen f'arms and the hill-fort); l0: opensettlement at Muntowo. TomaszNowakiewicz. GALINDIA IN THE VIKING AGE _ NEWSHAPE OF THE CULTURE 163 Bujack, "the three Sundays" in Jesziorken by Hess von Wichdorff and more advanced researching in ;;: ..r."rch period almost 10 years allows defining Pessenheimby Georg Bujackl0).Although thę other the first thesis of the Viking Age settlemęntin northern sites are known too (thanksto the accidęntalfinds of Galindia. It will be presentedin a short and simplified silver hoardsand the weapon'1),the list of the Viking way. Age sites in Galindia is very short. During the second half of the 20thcentury, poor levę1 of afl archaeological recognition changed The settlement imperceptibly. A fęw excavation seasons in two hill-forts (Jeziorko and Pasym; Antoniewicz 1952, In places whęre the older settlementoccurred from the Antoniewicz, Okultcz 1958;Odoj 1960; 1968) and Roman and the Migration Periods, the continuation of one in the open settlement(Franknowo; Babić, Dąb- settlementis confirmed. There are the open sites, with- rowska, Kozłowska 2000) and another' unexpected out any peculiar features, located extremely close to in fl at burial-gro und (C erkiewnik; Ziemliriska-Odoj the lake. Their topographical localisation, access to the 1992) were the only enterprises(fig. l). lake and probably their size, are similar. According to The basic growth of recognition level in Prus- archeozoological data the way of using the environment sian territories during the Viking Age is an effect during the Viking Age and a few centuriesago, seemsto of excavations made in Salęt Lake region (northern be similaą too. (fig. 3 a-b;4 c). frontier of Galindia) by the team from the Institutę However, the "traditional" farms were not the only of Archaeology of Warsaw University (Galindian ones around Salęt Lake in the Viking Age. There were Expedition IA UW; more about expedition, see: the "new" farms existing at the same time. It is impor- www.archeo.uw.edu.pl/Galindia).Sincę the Sec- tant, thatthe new sęttlementwas connectedwith places ond half of the 90's, l0 early mediaevalsites in the of different topography and had been occupying new borders of one archaeological complex had been areas' not used before. It is easy to noticę their specific' excavated (fig. 2). As the consequence,the small defensivelocalisation: in peninsula and on tops of the region around the Salęt Lake is the first complete- hills' often without ęasy access to the lake but almost ly explored area from the Viking Age in southęrn always in the shadow of the fortified sites (fig. 3 c). Prussiar2. Building and using Galindian hill-forts is an abso- lutely nęw idęa born in the Viking Age. Usually, the new *** hill-forts were built far from the older settlementareas. one of the results of Salęt Lake region recognition The main hill-fort of the region - Szestno-Czarny Las, is the question,about the interpretationof the Salęt excavated by W. WrÓblewski' was quite small' penna- region excavations.Could the materialsfrom micro- nently inhabitedby no more than 30 men and functioned region (located in the frontier zone of the tribal land) for a short time (1 - 2 generations;WrÓblewski 2000; be taken as the typical to whole Galindian standard? WrÓblewski' Nowaktewicz, Bogucki 2003: l59 ff.; ear- The answer should be, of course, negative.But, the lier literatureibidem; flg. 4 a). The traces of permanent importance of Salęt Lake region is the pattern-like buildings discovered inside the wall, indicate that the settlementcomplex, which can be used to initiate the build-up of the settlementconsisted of abovę-ground regional studies in Galindia and the other Prussian structures,probably raised on piles situated on the in- land,too. side of the rampart (WrÓblewski, Nowakiewicz' Bogu- Therę is one more particularfeature of Salęt Lake cki 2003 174). region: the good archaeological research of earlier The open settlementwas located out of the hill- settlęmenthęrę. Whole Galindian Expedition,sfield- fort but near the walls. The hill-fort as well as the opęn work had been concerned about sęttlementearlier farms were protected from east and south by swampy and later than the Viking Age too. Around the Salęt lowlands. Lake thereare more than l0 sites from the Early lron It is possibleto say much less abouttwo, of the same Ag., the Roman Period, Migration Period and from size, hill-forts in Salęt Lake region's northernborder the Middle Ages. Such practice unique in Balt ter- (sites: Rydwągi I and Rydwągi II). Both of them are ritories lęt to recogniseas węll thę material standard situatedin northernfrontier zone, betweenGalindia and as the cultural changes of Prussian settlement,dur- other great tribal land called Bartiala.Thę chronology ing more than 2000 years13.It lęts to take the Viking of them is based only on a few pieces of early medi- Age episode in Sa|ęt Lake region as the part of the aeval ceramics only artefactswhich had been found in long sequencein the local settlementhistory: from Rydwągi.