Whereas the Dnieper and Volga corridors have enjoyed decades of intensive study, the arteries that are Vistula, Southern and Western Bug rivers, which carried people, goods and ideas between the Baltic and Black seas, remain strikingly under-researched. These waterways connected Scandinavia, the Kingdom of Poland, diverse Slavic tribes, steppe nomads and the Byzantine world at the very moment when medieval states were crystallising.
The conference tackles a two-fold problem: first, the historiographical imbalance that privileges a handful of “canonical” routes and leaves the western Ukrainian and eastern Polish nexus in the shadows. Secondly, the acute danger that physical evidence from this region will be destroyed before it can be properly documented. Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine has already damaged sites, displaced collections and disrupted fieldwork. Preserving, digitising and interpreting the surviving material is not merely an academic exercise but a matter of cultural stewardship.
Against this backdrop, the meeting pursues four concrete aims:
Synthesis. It will assemble archaeological, numismatic, textual, environmental and geospatial data in a single forum, testing new hypotheses about the direction, volume and social consequences of north-south exchange.
Methodological innovation. Papers demonstrate how micro-archaeology, remote sensing, landscape reconstruction and innovative approaches to archival research can illuminate lightly investigated areas and generate shareable digital resources.
Heritage protection. By foregrounding Ukrainian voices and excavation field reports, the event highlights the urgency of safeguarding threatened sites and collections, and explores international mechanisms for their support.
Future collaboration. The sessions will sketch a roadmap for long-term, trans-border projects, ensuring that research momentum survives beyond the conference.
The significance of this agenda is amplified by the wider European context. Current geopolitics have revived questions about borders, corridors and contested contact zones, precisely the historical phenomena under discussion. Re-evaluating how medieval communities negotiated cooperation and conflict along the Bug–Vistula pathway offers a long-term perspective on the resilience, and fragility, of connectivity across frontiers. Moreover, by integrating landscape and other data with artefactual evidence, the conference speaks directly to contemporary debates on how environmental pressures shape human networks.
Hybrid Event
To participate in the conference online, please use the links provided below. A separate registration is not required.
19. Juni 2025
https://rgzm-de.zoom.us/j/82479046457?pwd=ddBjV9V2QdFx5jLBeRM9iyDCa3Ub7Z.1
Meeting-ID: 824 7904 6457
Kenncode: 686833
20. Juni 2025
https://rgzm-de.zoom.us/j/81361535755?pwd=QR7R9n7cOO63pTHe0RuBDXIuKEb83z.1
Meeting-ID: 813 6153 5755
Kenncode: 480115
Conference schedule
The programme has been purpose-built to redirect scholarly attention to the Bug–Vistula corridor, matching each thematic strand with specialists whose work is shaping the field.
Session 1 gathers artefact- and environment-focused archaeologists who trace Baltic objects from coastal contexts to inland cemeteries and “dark-earth” layers, demonstrating how Scandinavian material culture penetrated Belarus and Ukraine, in the context of a broader economic model of the Baltic zone.
Session 2 is driven by the study of economic interactions, reconstructing when and why merchants turned west of the Dnieper, while unveiling fresh data from Ukraine offering contexts that test presented hypotheses across a wider monetary landscape.
Session 3 shifts to settlement and landscape archaeology, presenting Ukrainian and Polish archaeological and historical material, supplying a three-dimensional picture of power along trading arteries.
Finally, Session 4 places those networks in their diplomatic and ideological settings, examining how Ulichi, Pechenegs and Rus’ negotiated access to Byzantium, in the context of regulated long-distance commerce.
Programme
Thursday 19th June
Session 1
Chair: Dariusz Adamczyk
Baltic Networks And Continental Penetration: How Far Inland Did Maritime Contacts Extend?
8:30-9:15 Roman Shiroukhov, Dmytro Djachenko, Vyacheslav Baranov, Vsevolod Ivakin, Oleksandra Kozak, John Meadows, Katherine French, Ulrich Schuermann, Jens Schneeweiß (Leibniz-Zentrum Für Archäologie)
Baltic Artefacts At The Ostriv Cemetery (Ukraine): Context, Chronology, Interpretation
9:15-10:00 Jens Schneeweiß (Leibniz-Zentrum Für Archäologie)
Micro Archaeology And The “Dark Earth” Phenomenon
10:00-10:15 Coffee Break
10:15-11:00 Mikalai Plavinski (Uniwersytet Warszawski)
Viking Age Scandinavian Artefacts From Belarus: Finds And Systematisation
11:00-11:45 Piotr Pranke (Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika W Toruniu)
“Temple Society”, Economic Growth And Mediaeval Trade In The Baltic Zone
11:45-12:15 Discussion
12:15-13:45 Lunch
Session 2
Chair: Adrian Jusupovich
Wealth On The Move: Tracing Everyday Commerce Between Central And Eastern Europe
13:45-14:30 Dariusz Adamczyk (Deutsches Historisches Institut Warschau)
Who And Why First Began To Use The Routes West Of The Dnieper? Numismatic Perspective And Textual Evidence
14:30-15:15 Eric Ollivier (College De France) & Stepan Stepanenko (Leibniz-Zentrum Für Archäologie)
A Small Hoard From Nemyriv
15:15-16:00 Marek Jankowiak (Northeast Normal University, Changchun, China)
Dirhams, slaves, fortifications: The rise and fall of the Lendzianie
16:00-16:45 Dorota Malarczyk (National Museum In Kraków, Numismatic Cabinet, Emeryk Hutten-Czapski Museum)
The Bug As A Corridor Between Poland And Eastern Europe
16:45-17:00 Coffee Break
17:00-17:45 Olena Chernenko (Uniwersytet Warszawski)
The Route To The East Along The Pripyat And Desna
17:45-18:30 Vital Sidarovich (Uniwersytet Warszawski)
Pinsk Coin Hoards Of The 9th-11th Centuries
Friday 20th June
Session 3
Chair: Constantin Zuckerman
Fortifications, Settlements And Landscapes: Mapping Power Along Long-Distance Trade Routes
8:30-9:15 Adrian Jusupović (Instytut Historii Im. Tadeusza Manteuffla Pan)
Trade Routes On The Bug And Nur In 13th Century Sources
9:15-10:00 Serhii Panyshko (Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University)
Hillfort Refuges Of Volyn In The 9th–10th Centuries
10:00-10:45 Stepan Stepanenko (Leibniz-Zentrum Für Archäologie)
Chervone And Sazhky: 10th Century Ulichi Hillforts On The Bug
10:45-11:00 Coffee Break
11:00-11:45 Ivan Kedun (Nizhyn Mykola Gogol State University) & Olena Chernenko (Uniwersytet Warszawski)
Magerki: The Rurikid Coin Hoard And An 11th-Century Settlement Near Nizhyn (Ukraine)
11:45-12:30 Oksana Diadechko (National Architecture-Historical Reserve “Ancient Chernihiv”)
Witnesses Of Eternity: Archaeological Sites And Architectural Monuments Of The 10th–11th Centuries In The National Architecture-Historical Reserve “Ancient Chernihiv” (Ukraine)
12:30-13:15 Maxim Levada (National Museum Of The History Of Ukraine )
Waterways Of The Northern Black Sea Region: A Historical Retrospective
13:15-13:45 Discussion
13:45-15:00 Lunch
Session 4
Chair: Marek Jankowiak
Byzantines, Slavs And Nomads: Negotiating Conflict And Cooperation In The 9th — 10th Centuries
15:00-15:45 Constantin Zuckerman (École Pratique Des Hautes Études)
Ulichi/Tivertsi And The Location Of Peresechen
15:45-16:30 Aleksander Paroń (Instytut Archeologii I Etnologii Polskiej Akademii Nauk)
Pechenegs: Trade Organisers Or Disruptors
16:30-16:45 Coffee Break
16:45-17:30 Oleksandr Fylypchuk (Ruhr-Universität Bochum)
The Raffelstetten Customs Regulations, The Slave Trade And The Rus’ Debate
17:30-18:15 Anna-Theres Andersen (Roots Cluster Of Excellence, Kiel University / Leibniz Institute For The History And Culture Of Eastern Europe – Gwzo)
Strengthening Bonds: Rituals And Power Dynamics In The Kievan Rus‘ And Byzantine Empire
18:15-18:45 Discussion
