The Aetsi are a north Germanic-Baltic group described by Roman Tacitus in 98 CE. With strong connections to the trade of coveted amber, Aetsi are mysterious people. Their clothing and culture resemble those of the Suebi.
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The classical Romans gain an interest in amber. They have access to the North Sea, west of the Baltic. Pliny the Elder writes about the North Sea amber in his Natural History (77 - 79 CE):
"Pytheas says that the Gutones, a people of Germany, inhabit the shores of an estuary of the Ocean called Mentonomon ... one day's sail from this territory is the Isle of Abalus [Baltia], upon the shores of which, amber is thrown up by the waves in spring, it being an excretion of the sea in a concrete form; as, also, that the inhabitants use this amber by way of fuel, and sell it to their neighbors, the Teutones."
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Twenty years later, the account by Tacitus is the most detailed ancient description of the Aesti currently known, and their connection to the divine resin. While the Romans access the North Sea, they never reach the Baltic.
The Germanic Suevians (Suebi) mentioned in the text eventually settle in the southwest of Germany, today's Swabia.
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"Upon the right of the Suevian [Baltic] Sea the Aestian nations reside, who use the same customs and attire with the Suevians; their language more resembles that of Britain. They worship the Mother of the Gods.
As the characteristic of their national superstition, they wear the images of wild boars. This alone serves them for arms, this is the safeguard of all, and by this every worshipper of the Goddess is secured even amidst his foes.
Rare amongst them is use of weapons of iron, but frequent that of clubs. In producing of grain and the other fruits of the earth, they labor with more assiduity and patience than is suitable to the usual laziness of Germans.
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Nay, they even search the deep, and of all the rest are the only people who gather amber. They call it glaesum, and find it amongst the shallows and upon the very shore.
But, according to the ordinary incuriosity and ignorance of Barbarians, they have neither learnt, nor do they inquire, what is its nature, or from what cause it is produced.
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In truth it lay long neglected amongst the other gross discharges of the sea; till from our luxury, it gained a name and value. To themselves it is of no use: they gather it rough, they expose it in pieces coarse and unpolished, and for it receive a price with wonder.
(Germania, 98 CE, chapter XLV)
Roman statesman Cassiodorus, acting in the name of Ostrogoth king Theodoric the Great (r. 475–526) sends a missive to the Aesti, a group inhabiting today's north Lithuania:
It is gratifying to us to know that you have heard of our fame, and have sent ambassadors who have passed through so many strange nations to seek our friendship. We have received the amber which you have sent us.
You say that you gather this lightest of all substances from the shores of ocean, but how it comes thither you know not. But as an author named Cornelius (Tacitus) informs us, it is gathered in the innermost islands of the ocean, being formed originally of the juice of a tree (whence its name succinum), and gradually hardened by the heat of the sun.
Thus it becomes an exuded metal, a transparent softness, sometimes blushing with the color of saffron, sometimes glowing with flame-like clearness. Then, gliding down to the margin of sea, and further purified by the rolling of the tides, it is at length transported to your shores to be cast upon them.
We have thought it better to point this out to you, lest you should imagine that your supposed secrets have escaped our knowledge. We sent you some presents by our ambassadors, and shall be glad to receive further visits from you by the road which you have thus opened up, and to show you future favors.
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Between the first mention by Tacitus and the letter of Cassiodorus, four hundred years elapse. It's a long time for a culture to control a significant resource. Today amber gathering is much the same as it is in prehistory.
Baltic amber comes from an enormous Carboniferous forest buried in the sea floor. The ferocity of winter storms hurls chunks and nuggets of amber up onto the shores, where it's collected by ancient and modern enterprising locals.