How the Amber Trade Transformed Bronze Age Europe

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Over three thousand years ago, the societies of bronze age Europe were all connected by a complex network of trade routes, exchanging all manner of raw materials and beautiful products like amber. But when did this trade start? Why was amber so valuable? How far did Baltic amber travel? What goods and ideas flowed in return? And how did this trade transform these Bronze Age societies? This is the story of the Amber Road.

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Sources

The Oxford Handbook of Neolithic Europe https://amzn.to/43eSVRO
Trade before Civilization https://amzn.to/4pMC6az
The Rise of Bronze Age Society https://amzn.to/4pcEWFS
Organizing Bronze Age Societies https://amzn.to/4pIpgtQ
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Video Chapters

00:00 The Amber Road
01:34 Sponsorship
03:07 What is amber?
04:50 Prehistoric exchange networks
06:30 Bronze Age amber
08:58 The amber road routes
12:00 Amber in the Mediterranean
13:23 Warrior-traders
16:41 The end of the road