Amber Routes

Scientists presume that the trade in amber started as early as in New Stone Age. Amber, obtained in major excavation centres in Jutland and on eastern Baltic Coast began to spread in central Europe reaching even Egypt. Baltic amber beads were found in 3400-2400 BC pharaoh tombs in Tethys (?) pyramid. German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann who in 1871-1890 excavated Troy in addition to other artefacts found amber beads. Scientists established that they were made from amber that had been brought from the Baltic Coast in 3000 BC. This archaeologist has found Baltic amber also in cupola tombs of Mycenaean culture built on Crete Island in 1600-800 BC.

In the 1st - 3rd centuries there was an intensive trade in amber with Roman Empire and its colonies and this led to the formation of so called "amber road". Amber was treasured and called "northern gold" in Greece and in the Roman Empire. In times of the Emperor Nero (54-68 AD) the value of a small amber statuette was greater than that of a young healthy slave. Transparent reddish or golden amber was especially valuable and was used in manufacture of adornments and small implements and utensils. Opaque amber was used only in the manufacture of incenses. Pliny the Elder in his work "Naturalis Historia" describes those times and tells a story about one Roman rider who managed to bring the quantity of amber with which it was possible to decorate not only an amphitheatre but also gladiators' clothes and arms. The biggest piece weighed over 4 kg. Amber destined for the Roman Empire was stored in intermediate points. Three such warehouses with 3 tons of amber have been found in the neighbourhood of Wroclaw. At around the end of the 3rd century new trade roads to the East by the Dnieper, Dniester and Prut Rivers have been found and relations with Slavic settlements, Roman colonies on the coast of the Black Sea and later with the Byzantine Empire and Arab countries established.

In the 12th century crusaders began their attacks on the Baltic Coast settlements with the time monopolised amber excavation and most of amber processing and trade. Under 1264 agreement with the Sambian Archbishop all lands rich in amber were given to the Order of the Knights of the Cross, and the Archbishop received one third of gathered amber. Local inhabitants who gathered and traded in amber for centuries lost this right. By the Order's regalia all obtained amber had to be given to designated officers and there were huge fines for trying to hide even smallest quantities of amber. As early as the beginning of the 19th century an executioner in Konigsberg was employed whose duty was to execute death penalties for wilful collecting of amber.

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