The mystic stone amber is treasured for beauty, depth and warmth. A fossilized resin, amber can be worn in jewelry, traded for goods or burnt as incense. The first sign of Baltic Amber in the West is a Neolithic bead c. 3400 BCE in Iberia.
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From the exchange of Baltic Amber early trade routes form. Prehistoric fishing, trading or seasonal settlements arise at strategic locations, and eventually return to the earth. Flood deltas and rocky shores create a wild coast and ever-changing land.
Early settlers form bridges and wooden walkways to navigate the delta marshes. As time goes by the Amber Roads feed into tin and copper routes. Metal workers turn their attention to the unlimited opportunities of bronze.
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The Amber Roads trade routes are followed by merchants, traders, herders, travelers through several countries and many centuries. When the Silk Road appears in the 2nd century BCE, the Amber Road becomes a transition point at the Black Sea.
From there one can go north to the Baltic lands, south to the Indus Valley or the kingdoms of Mesopotamia and the ports of the Mediterranean Sea. Around the middle of the 2nd millennium BCE, the Phoenicians emerge as a major merchant marine trading force in the Levant.
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Amber comes from the resin of ordinary trees such as pine. The translucent liquid hardens on exposure to air.
Amber's fossilized form has many uses including fragrance, incense, rituals, jewelry of rank. In traditional Chinese medicine amber brings tranquility to the mind. In Egypt amber is a gem of the Pharaohs, found in Egyptian burial sites.
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Preserved insects or inclusions in ancient amber fascinate inquiring minds. At the temple of Roman Sun God Apollo, amber is on the list of preferred offerings. In the Baltic, winter storms throw amber to shore.
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In the 5th century BCE, Athenian scholar Nicias says amber
" ... is a liquid produced by the rays of the sun; and that these rays, at the moment of the sun's setting, striking with the greatest force upon the surface of the soil, leave upon it an unctuous sweat, which is carried off by the tides of the Ocean, and thrown up upon the shores of Germany."
Roughly, the Amber Road(s) today lead from St. Petersburg on the Baltic to Venezia (Venice) by the Adriatic Sea in the balmy Mediterranean. In its heyday the departure points are the Old Prussian towns Kaup and Truso on the Baltic. The road is not just one route, but a wellspring for others, creating trade networks throughout and beyond Eurasia.
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Besides amber, other commodities travel the Amber Roads. They include animal fur and skins, exotic fruit such as dates and pomegranate; pottery, oils, honey, wax, carnelian, lapis lazuli and other precious gems.
Trade routes establish mobility of metals, fabrics, spices, salt, dyes and local specialties. Use of horses begins about 2000 BCE, especially among the elite and warrior classes. Evolution of the wagon and chariot makes transportation, trade and warfare faster and easier.
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In the Bronze Age tin and copper arrive in the Baltic along the Amber Road. By c. 1500 BCE glass beads and ornaments, brass, gold and non-ferrous metals are introduced into the early Baltic region.
A major source of tin in Europe comes from Ehrenfriedersdorf, south of today's Chemnitz, Germany after c. 1300 BCE. Brass has been known since about 3000 BCE, when metallurgists accidentally mix copper and zinc.
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Countries traversed by the Amber Roads are Poland, Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands, Belgium, South France and Spain, and Mongolia. Over the centuries North Sea and Baltic amber travels along the Vistula and Dnieper rivers to Italy, Greece, the Black Sea, Syria and Egypt.
Archaeologists find amber beads in the tomb of Tutankhamen. Amber trade travels inland and cross-country. Major European rivers and waterways including the Oder, Elbe, Vistula, Rhine River, Warnow and more.
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The Amber Roads define and expand prehistoric trading routes between northern and southern Europe, Egypt and Mesopotamia. It's thought the goods brought along the Amber Road are among the catalysts in the rise of the Vikings in the 8th century CE.
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