Gotlandic pottery outside Gotland

The article discusses contacts and networks along the eastern coast of Sweden and around the Baltic Sea. The focus is on the decorated pottery c. 0–700 AD. Sweden and Scandinavia had different regional styles of pottery during this period. One of the most distinctive Scandinavian styles is found on Öland and Gotland. This style is distinguished by the elaborate use of stamps and vessels with handles positioned from the rim to the shoulder. Vessels made in this style are found outside the large islands, notably in Svealand, i.e. the lake Mälaren Basin in central Sweden, as well as in northern Sweden. More interesting is the spread and influences in the Dollkeim-Kovrovo culture, in north-eastern Poland, and Oblast Kaliningrad. During the Roman Iron Age, a special type of beaker is found from the Mälar basin to Gotland/Öland and further on in Oblast Kaliningrad. The connection can also be seen in dress ornaments and other artefacts. The regional differences in the pottery decrease during the Vendel Period (c. 550–800 AD). A new style of stamped vessels is spread from the Langobards in northern Italy to England and Scandinavia and marks a new, more uniform material culture. This marks probably a new area of more complex and centralised political units.