In the first century of the Common Era, trade routes began to develop on the territory of the modern Kaliningrad region. Some of them passed along the Baltic Sea coast, others made possible intertribal contacts along the river.

The Great Amber Road of the Roman Empire occupied a special place in trade. This route was used to establish contacts between the Baltics and Roman centers in the Mediterranean. The trade in amber was facilitated by the dismissive attitude of the Aesti, as the local population was referred to by Roman historians.

At the end of the first century A.D., the ancient writer Cornelius Tacitus wrote in his work “Germany”,

Many researchers call this period of history the “Golden Age of the Balts”. It was only thanks to the Romans’ love of luxury and their interest in amber that the peoples inhabiting the Baltic Sea coast, including the Aesti, became known. Contacts were established along the Amber Trade Route between the Amber region in the North and the Roman centers in the West and South.

Various glass and paste beads and bronze products, primarily fibulae and belt parts were the main commodities exchanged for amber and delivered via an extensive trade network to these territories. This is confirmed by the materials of archaeological excavations.

Both in men’s and women’s burials of the 1st century AD amber and amber products are practically absent. The exception is small, biconical or rounded beads as part of necklaces, comprising about one percent of the total number of beads. Such jewelry could contain up to several hundred Roman mosaic, paste, glass, bronze beads and spacer rings.