{{short description|Prehistoric culture in northern Europe}} [[File:Archeological cultures in Northern and Central Europe at the late pre-Roman Iron Age.png|thumb|240px|Cultures in Northern and Central Europe during the late Iron Age.<br/> pale green (centre) – Przeworsk culture<br/> dark green – Nordic group<br/> dark red – Jastorf culture<br/> yellow – Harpstedt-Nienburger group<br/> orange – Celtic groups<br/> brown – Oksywie culture<br/> pink – East Baltic forest zone cultures <br/> magenta – West Baltic cairn culture<br/> turquoise – Milogrady culture<br/> black – Estonian group]]
The '''Western Baltic culture''' ({{Langx|lt|Vakarų baltų kultūra}}; {{Langx|pl|Kultura zachodniobałtyjska}} also known as {{Lang|pl|krąg zachodniobałtyjski}} ('''West Baltic circle'''), {{Langx|ru|Западнобалтская культура|translit=Zapadnobaltskaya kul'tura}}) was the westernmost branch of the Balts, representing a distinct archaeological culture of the Bronze Age and Iron Age, along the southern coast of the Baltic Sea. It is a zone of several small archaeological cultures that were ethnically Baltic and had similar cultural features (e.g. similar monuments or some features of the funeral rite). They included tribes such as the Old Prussians, Galindians, Yotvingians (or Sudovians) and Skalvians, in addition to the little-known '''Pomeranian Balts''' or '''Western Balts''' proper, in the area now known as Pomerania.{{Sfn|Gimbutas|1963|p=63}}
== History == Most of the Western Balts arose from the {{Interlanguage link|West Baltic barrow culture|lt|Vakarų baltų pilkapių kultūra}} dating back to the early Iron Age. The Western Baltic culture includes:
* {{Interlanguage link|Bogaczewo culture|pl|Kultura bogaczewska}} (from the end of {{Circa|1st millennium B.C.}} to the end of the 4th c. A.D., possibly even the end of the 5th c.) * {{Interlanguage link|Sudovian culture|lt|Sūduvių kultūra}} (from the mid-2nd c. A.D. to the end of the 6th c.) * {{Interlanguage link|Sambian-Notangian culture|lt|Dulokaimio-Kovrovo kultūra}} (from the end of the 1st c. A.D. to the beginning of the 6th c.) * {{Interlanguage link|Olsztyn group|pl|Grupa olsztyńska}} (from the end of the 5th c. A.D. to the mid-7th c. or the beginning of the 8th c.) * Elbląg group (from the end of the 5th c. A.D. to the mid-7th c.) * Low German group * West Lithuanian group * Central Lithuanian group
=== Geography, chronology and ancient mentions === According to Marija Gimbutas, the Baltic culture of the Early and Middle Bronze Age covered a territory which, at its maximal extent, included "all of Pomerania almost to the mouth of the Oder, and the whole Vistula basin to Silesia in the south-west" before the spread of the Lusatian culture to the region and was inhabited by the ancestors of the later (Baltic) Old Prussians.{{Sfn|Gimbutas|1963|pp=27, 61}}
The Western Baltic cultures were located to the north-east of the Wielbark and Przeworsk cultures, between the Pasłęka and Daugava rivers. They lived there from the end of {{Circa|1st millennium B.C.}} until the mid-7th century. According to Tacitus, these areas were inhabited by the Aesti, while Ptolemy speaks of the Galindians and the Sudines.
== Art and structures == The Balts decorated their pots by creating "deep incisions and ridges around the neck." Baltic graves consisted of huts made out of timber, or stone cists with floors of pavement "encircled by timber posts".{{Sfn|Gimbutas|1963|pp=27, 61}}
==See also== * Early history of Pomerania * Dniepr Balts
==References== {{reflist}}
==Sources==
* {{cite book |author=Gimbutas |title=The Balts |first=Marija |url=https://www.scribd.com/document/20734427/marija-gimbutas-The-Balts |year=1963 |publisher=Thames and Hudson}} * {{Cite book |last=Kaczanowski |first=Piotr |title=Wielka Historia Polski |last2=Kozłowski |first2=Janusz Krzysztof |publisher=Fogra |year=1998 |isbn=83-85719-34-2 |volume=I - Najdawniejsze dzieje ziem polskich (do VII w.) |location=Kraków |language=pl}} * {{Cite book |last=Kozłowski |first=Janusz K. |title=Encyklopedia historyczna świata |publisher=Agencja Publicystyczno-Wydawnicza Opres |year=1999 |isbn=83-85909-51-6 |volume=I: Prehistoria, praca zbiorowa |location=Kraków |language=pl}}
== See also ==
* {{Cite web |last=Tyurin |first=E.A. |title=Вооружение всадников самбийско-натангийской и прусской культур I-VI вв. н.э. |trans-title=Armament of horsemen of the Sambian-Natangian and Prussian cultures of the 1st-6th centuries A.D. |url=https://www.simvolika.org/mars_037.htm |website=www.simvolika.org |language=ru}} * {{Cite web |last=Kulakov |first=V.I. |title=Памятники археологии Калининградской области |trans-title=Archaeological monuments of the Kaliningrad region |url=http://www.archaeology.ru/ONLINE/Kulakov/kulakov.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101214015531/http://www.archaeology.ru/ONLINE/Kulakov/kulakov.html |archive-date=2010-12-14 |language=ru}}
Category:Ancient peoples Category:History of Pomerania Category:Prehistoric Poland Category:Prehistory of Prussia