Kaup is a hill on the bank of the
Curonian Lagoon
The Curonian Lagoon (or Bay, Gulf; russian: Куршский залив, lt, Kuršių marios, pl, Zalew Kuroński, german: Kurisches Haff, lv, Kuršu joma) is a freshwater lagoon separated from the Baltic Sea by the Curonian Spit. Its surfac ...
, immediately north of the village of
Mokhovoye, Kaliningrad Oblast
Mokhovoye (russian: Мохово́е; german: Wiskiauten; lt, Viskiautai) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, rural locality (a settlement) in Zelenogradsky District of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, less than 4 km from Zelenogradsk and fr ...
,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
. It is a large
early medieval
The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Mi ...
burial site with
Norse grave goods
Grave goods, in archaeology and anthropology, are the items buried along with the body.
They are usually personal possessions, supplies to smooth the deceased's journey into the afterlife or offerings to the gods. Grave goods may be classed as a ...
. Kaup has been viewed by historians as an important
early medieval emporium and a likely starting point of the
Amber Road
The Amber Road was an ancient trade route for the transfer of amber from coastal areas of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. Prehistoric trade routes between Northern and Southern Europe were defined by the amber trade.
...
to the south. The original name of this medieval settlement is uncertain.
History
Archaeological excavations, undertaken in 1899 and 1932, when the area was a part of
East Prussia
East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label=Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 187 ...
, and in 1979, during
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
times, suggest that a major center of
Old Prussians
Old Prussians, Baltic Prussians or simply Prussians (Old Prussian: ''prūsai''; german: Pruzzen or ''Prußen''; la, Pruteni; lv, prūši; lt, prūsai; pl, Prusowie; csb, Prësowié) were an indigenous tribe among the Baltic peoples that in ...
sprang up there in the early 9th century. Kaup may have been its name, because the place-name is cognate to Old Prussian (and Germanic) terms for "purchase".
Marija Gimbutas
Marija Gimbutas ( lt, Marija Gimbutienė, ; January 23, 1921 – February 2, 1994) was a Lithuanian archaeologist and anthropologist known for her research into the Neolithic and Bronze Age cultures of " Old Europe" and for her Kurgan hypothesis, ...
describes it as
the gateway for the traffic leading to the east via the lower Nemunas
The Neman, Nioman, Nemunas or MemelTo bankside nations of the present: Lithuanian: be, Нёман, , ; russian: Неман, ''Neman''; past: ger, Memel (where touching Prussia only, otherwise Nieman); lv, Nemuna; et, Neemen; pl, Niemen; ...
basin into the lands of the Curonians, Lithuanians, and other Baltic tribes.[M. Gimbutas. ''The Balts.'' London: Thames and Hudson, 1963.]
Following the decline of
Truso
Truso was a Viking Age port of trade (emporium) set up by the Scandinavians at the banks of the Nogat delta branch of the Vistula River, close to a bay (the modern Drużno lake), where it emptied into the shallow and brackish Vistula Lagoon. This ...
to the south and
Grobin to the north in the course of the century, Kaup succeeded them as the principal regional colony of
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
merchants from
Birka
Birka (''Birca'' in medieval sources), on the island of Björkö (lit. "Birch Island") in present-day Sweden, was an important Viking Age trading center which handled goods from Scandinavia as well as many parts of the European continent and ...
.
[At least such was the opinion of ]Birger Nerman
Birger Nerman (6 October 188822 August 1971) was a Swedish archaeologist, historian and philologist who specialized in the history and culture of Iron Age Sweden.
Nerman was educated at Uppsala University, where he began his career as a lectur ...
. See: Thomas D. Kendrick. ''A History of the Vikings''. Courier Dover Publications, 2004. . Page 187. It was superbly sited along the sand-barred shore particularly rich in
amber
Amber is fossilized tree resin that has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Much valued from antiquity to the present as a gemstone, amber is made into a variety of decorative objects."Amber" (2004). In Ma ...
, hidden from potential enemies within a bay "where islands, shoals, and complicated channels made the approach slow and observable".
[Gwyn Jones. ''A History of the Vikings.'' Oxford University Press, 2001. . Page 167.]
Kaup flourished as a market town protected by a garrison until the end of the 10th century, when
Harald Bluetooth
Harald "Bluetooth" Gormsson ( non, Haraldr Blátǫnn Gormsson; da, Harald Blåtand Gormsen, died c. 985/86) was a king of Denmark and Norway.
He was the son of King Gorm the Old and of Thyra Dannebod. Harald ruled as king of Denmark from c. 95 ...
's son, Haakon, a Dane, raided
Samland. This attack, attested by ''
Saxo Grammaticus
Saxo Grammaticus (c. 1150 – c. 1220), also known as Saxo cognomine Longus, was a Danish historian, theologian and author. He is thought to have been a clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund, the main advisor to Valdemar I of Denmark. ...
'', probably contributed to the downfall of Kaup, which was again burned to the ground by the Dane
Cnut the Great
Cnut (; ang, Cnut cyning; non, Knútr inn ríki ; or , no, Knut den mektige, sv, Knut den Store. died 12 November 1035), also known as Cnut the Great and Canute, was King of England from 1016, King of Denmark from 1018, and King of Norwa ...
during his anti-Prussian raid in 1016. The Norsemen's raids ended in the 11th century. They abandoned the Curonian shore for good, but the Prussians continued to occupy the site until the
Northern Crusades
The Northern Crusades or Baltic Crusades were Christianity and colonialism, Christian colonization and Christianization campaigns undertaken by Catholic Church, Catholic Christian Military order (society), military orders and kingdoms, primarily ...
of the 13th century.
Archaeology
In a forest skirting the modern settlement, German archaeologists of the 19th century found a large cemetery, consisting of up to five hundred
tumuli
A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones buil ...
. Of these, only a few remain: continuing activities of amateur Russian archaeologists approach vandalism in that they result in razing of several tumuli each summer. The finds unearthed at Kaup highlight Swedish rather than Danish connections of the medieval Scandinavian colonists.
The tumuli are semi-spherical, less than in height and ranging from in diameter. A huge boulder was placed on top of each barrow. Some burial mounds were surrounded by stone rings. The Vikings were cremated elsewhere, together with their swords and arrows, before ashes of the dead and their burnt weapons were deposited inside the barrows.
References
Further reading
* Кулаков В. И. Кауп. "Становление европейского средневекового города". Moscow, 1989.
*"Археология СССР" (ed. by
Boris Rybakov
Boris Alexandrovich Rybakov (Russian language, Russian: Бори́с Алекса́ндрович Рыбако́в, 3 June 1908, Moscow – 27 December 2001) was a Soviet Union, Soviet and Russian historian who personified the anti-Normanist the ...
). Том "Финно-угры и балты в эпоху средневековья". Moscow: Nauka, 1987.
External links
Archaeological exploration of Mokhovoye in 2005-2006
{{Baltic emporia
East Prussia
Archaeological sites in Russia
Cultural heritage monuments of federal significance in Kaliningrad Oblast