History of Amber Road

Initially amber was a subject of trade in which Celts were middle man. First organized amber expeditions were held in V B.C. Trading with Celts they didn't reach the Baltic coast.

Only after conquering the central Danube area in first century the Romans developed the amber trade on a big scale by organizing expeditions from Panonia to the Baltic, especially to Sambia, using several routes.

The highest development rate of this type of trade took place in third century and since the middle of fourth century the amber trade gradually started decreasing. The main amber trading centre within the Roman Empire was Aquileia.

The route of the Amber Road

The exact route hasn't been specified yet. It is only known that it led through Brama Morawska in its initial part, turning northwards and after that going through Silesia, eastern Wielkopolska and Kujawy (wading across the Vistula river in Otloczyn near Torun) leading to the Balic Sea. It is highly possible that the main route of the Amber Road from the very beginning of the millenium led from Vienna through Brno, Klodzko, Wroclaw, Kalisz and Swiecie to Gda?k.
The options of the route of the Amber Road are based on references from ancient writers works but obviously the main source of the Amber Road history comes as a result of archeological research. The landmarks of the Amber Road were Roman coins, bronze items, Roman pottery (terra sigillata) and amber treasures. Surely present Wroclaw is located on the historical amber route. Within Partynice area, one of Wroclaw's housing estates a big amber treasure was found in the 19th century. The treasure is dated on 1st century and weights 500 kg.