Ralswiek: A Viking Trading Place on the German Baltic Coast

Ralswiek lies on the Großer Jasmunder Bodden on the island of Rügen. From the 8th into the 10th century it was an important trade and craft place on the southern Baltic – in a region where the Slavic (Rani) and Scandinavian worlds met. Excavations uncovered house plans, workshops and above all traces of boat-building.

Ships and long-distance trade

At Ralswiek archaeologists found the remains of several boats of Slavic construction – a sign that here goods were not only traded but also built and sailed. Across the Baltic ran links to Scandinavia and further east. The place thus belongs to the same world as Haithabu and Reric: a knot in the net of Baltic trading places.

The silver hoard

In 1973 a large silver hoard came to light near Ralswiek: thousands of Arabic coins (dirhams) and hacksilver – solid proof of far-reaching trade into the Islamic world. Such hoards show how the silver of the caliphates flowed along the Russian river routes right to the German Baltic coast. More on chopped silver as means of payment in the article on hacksilver.

"Wits must he have who wanders wide, but all is easy at home."Hávamál 5, after Henry A. Bellows 1923 (public domain)

Ralswiek shows that the Viking-Age Baltic was a shared economic space – and that the German coast too, from Rügen to the Schlei, lay right in this net of silver, ships and long-distance trade.

Read more with us

Reric · Hacksilver – silver as currency · Viking traces in Germany · The Danevirke · Hedeby.

Sources & literature

Excavations at Ralswiek (Joachim Herrmann and others); standard literature on Baltic trading places; quote public domain (Bellows 1923).

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