The The Olsztyn Group in the Early Medieval Archaeology of the Baltic Region: The Cemetry at Leleszki deals with a much neglected problem of the archaeology of the early Middle Ages. Between the 5th and the 7th century, the region of the Mazurian Lakes in northeastern Poland witnessed the rise of communities engaged in long-distant contacts with both Western and Eastern Europe. Known as the Olsztyn Group, the archaeological remains of those communities have revealed a remarkable wealth and diversity, which has attracted scholarly attention for more than 130 years. Besides offering a survey of the current state of research on the Olsztyn Group, Mirosław Rudnicki introduces the monographic study of the Leleszki cemetery (district of Szczytno, Poland) as one of the most representative sites. The prosperity and long-distance contact revealed by the examination of this cemetery shows that the West Baltic tribes had considerable influence in early medieval Europe, much more than scholars had been ready to admit until now.

In The Long Sixth Century in Eastern Europe, Florin Curta offers a social and economic history of East Central, South-Eastern and Eastern Europe during the 6th and 7th centuries.

This collection of studies is the result of a six-year interdisciplinary research project undertaken by an international team, and constitutes a completely new approach to environmental, cultural and settlement changes around the mid-first millennium AD in Central Europe.

In The Slavic Dossier, Iurie Stamati’s objective is to understand the reasons for the emergence of two different discourses on the place of the Slavs on the territory of Moldova and their role in the genesis of Moldovans and their culture during the medieval period in the Soviet archaeology. His analysis goes beyond the utilitarian perception of Soviet archeology. To achieve this, Stamati not only questions the political contexts in which these discourses emerged, but also looks at the history of the Moldovan archaeological field, personal profiles of archaeologists, their theoretical and ideological attachment, relationships and interactions with each other inside and outside the archaeological field.

Winner of the 2020 Verbruggen prize This book provides a comprehensive synthesis of scholarship on Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages. The goal is to offer an overview of the current state of research and a basic route map for navigating an abundant historiography available in more than 10 different languages. The literature published in English on the medieval history of Eastern Europe—books, chapters, and articles—represents a little more than 11 percent of the historiography. The companion is therefore meant to provide an orientation into the existing literature that may not be available because of linguistic barriers and, in addition, an introductory bibliography in English. Winner of the 2020 Verbruggen prize, awarded annually by the De Re Militari society for the best book on medieval military history. The awarding committee commented that the book ‘has an enormous range, and yet is exceptionally scholarly with a fine grasp of detail. Its title points to a general history of eastern Europe, but it is dominated by military episodes which make it of the highest value to anybody writing about war and warmaking in this very neglected area of Europe.’ See inside the book.

The Archaeology of the Prussian Crusade explores the archaeology and material culture of the crusades against the Prussian tribes in the 13th century, and the resulting society created by the Teutonic Order which endured into the 16th century. It provides an updated synthesis of the material culture of this unique, hybrid society in the south-eastern Baltic region, encompassing the full range of archaeological data, from standing buildings through to artefacts and ecofacts, integrated with written and artistic sources. The work is sub-divided into broadly chronological themes, beginning with a historical outline, then exploring the settlements, castles, towns and landscapes of the Teutonic Order’s theocratic state, the character and tempo of religious transformation and concluding with the roles of the reconstructed and ruined monuments of medieval Prussia in the modern world, particularly within the context of Polish culture. This remains the first work on the archaeology of medieval Prussia in any language, and is intended as a comprehensive introduction to a period and area of growing interest. This book represents an important contribution to promoting International awareness of the cultural heritage of the Baltic region, which has been rapidly increasing over the last few decades.

In Avar-Age Polearms and Edged Weapons, Gergely Csiky offers a presentation of close combat weapons of a nomadic population that migrated from Inner Asia to East-Central Europe. During the late 6th – early 7th centuries, the Avars led successful military campaigns against the Balkan realms of the Byzantine Empire, facilitated by their cavalry’s use of stirrups for the first time in Europe. Besides the classification, manufacturing techniques, fittings, suspension, distribution, and chronology of polearms and edged weapons known from Avar-age burials, a special emphasis is laid on the origins and cultural contacts of these weapons, among them the first edged weapons with curved blades: the sabres. The social significance and, function of these artefacts is discussed in order to place them in nomadic warfare.

Although barbarians in history is a topic of perennial interest, most studies have addressed a small number of groups for which continuous narratives can be constructed, such as the Franks, Goths, and Anglo-Saxons. This volume examines groups less accessible in the literary and archaeological evidence. Scholars from thirteen countries examine the history and archaeology of groups for whom literary evidence is too scant to contribute to current theoretical debates about ethnicity. Ranging from the Baltic and northern Caucasus to Spain and North Africa and over a time period from 300 to 900, the essays address three main themes. Why is a given barbarian group neglected? How much can we know about a group and in what ways can we bring up this information? What sorts of future research are necessary to extend or fill out our understanding? Some papers treat these questions organically. Others use case studies to establish what we know and how we can advance. Drawing on those separate lines of research, the conclusion proposes an alternative reading of Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages, viewed not from the 'centre' of the privileged but from the 'periphery' of the neglected groups. Neglected Barbarians covers a longer time span than similar studies of this kind, while its frequent use of the newest archaeological evidence has no parallel in any book so far published in any language. Professor Florin Curta researches the written and archaeological evidence of medieval history on the European continent. His recent studies dealt with such diverse topics as power representation in early medieval Bulgaria; the archaeology of service settlements in the early Middle Ages; the earliest Avar-age stirrups; the history of medieval archaeology; hilltop settlements in the early Byzantine Balkans; the archaeology of identity in Old Russia; the Amber Trail in early medieval Europe; and the history of Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages.

The Goths-a rumored people first known by history around the river Vistula in present Poland-was the people that more than other contributed to the fall of the Roman Empire. It was however also the Goths who preserved the Roman culture against other Germanic tribes. Earlier it has been generally assumed the Goths originated in Scandinavia but during the 20th c. many scholars have grown skeptical. The author has, using both Classical and Nordic sources and supplementary sciences, made probable there is an intimate connection between the Goths and the Nordic countries. Consequently it is quite possible that at least part of the Goths have a Nordic origin. The book rests on the basic hypothesis that the Goths are not a people but a number of tribes and peoples united through a common religious/cultic origin. The old dispute concerning the relationship between Svear and Gautar also gets quite a new meaning. The book is interdisciplinary and embraces history, religion, arts, linguistics and archaeology. In 1999 Ingemar Nordgren received his Ph.D. at Odense University, Denmark The book builds to a considerable extent on his dissertation but has been updated and partly rewritten with brand new material.

Money and Coinage in the Middle Ages presents an original and valuable set of studies into aspects of a critical but challenging category of material.