Sacred Seas: Ritual Exchange in the Baltic Sea Region during the Neolithic

Seafaring was one of the most important technological advances made by stone-age people as it allowed access to new resources, regions, and ways of life. Determining how maritime exchange networks first took shape is therefore critical for understanding early human history. In Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea, the Neolithic Pitted Ware Culture (PWC) was one of the region’s first truly maritime societies. Between 3500 and 2300 BCE, the PWC thrived on the area’s islands and coasts, living on a diet of fish and seal meat. Recent studies have shown that PWC groups in different parts of the Baltic Sea region frequently interacted with each other, sometimes voyaging over long stretches of open ocean to do so. This project investigates the processes that shaped these early maritime networks. By studying the composition of the clays that the PWC used to make ceramic pots and figurines, we will be able to determine where these artifacts were made and map connections between PWC sites. We will use these results to test the hypothesis that the PWC engaged in ritual exchange networks similar to those found in several ethnographically known maritime societies from other world regions. By sourcing the clays in hundreds of ceramic artifacts from 18 different PWC sites, our project will provide the first large-scale analysis of hunter-gatherer maritime exchange systems in Scandinavia and will evaluate how seafaring could have developed in a stone-age society.