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Areas in the first half of the 3rd century: Wielbark culture (red) , Przeworsk culture (green), a Baltic culture (Aesti?, yellow), Dębczyn culture (pink) and the Roman Empire (purple)

Wielbark culture (German: Wielbark-Kultur, Polish: Kultura wielbarska, Ukrainian: Вельбарська культура (Vel’bars’ka kul’tura)) was an archaeological culture identified with the Goths which appeared during the first half of the 1st century AD. It replaced the local Oksywie culture which was part of the Przeworsk culture.

The culture was named after Wielbark, near which a cemetery of over 3000 tombs was discovered. The report of the original excavation was rediscovered in 2004.

The (Malbork)-Wielbark culture started out covering the same area as the Oksywie culture, around the present day towns of Gdańsk and Chełmno. Later it reached into the lakelands (Kashubian and Krajenskian lakes) and stretched southwards, into the region around Poznań.

In the first half of the 3rd century AD, the Wielbark culture left settlements by the Baltic Sea, at that time called Mare Suevicum or Mare Germanicum, except for the areas adjacent to the Vistula, and expanded into the area which later (by 1000 AD) became Masovia and Lesser Poland (Lubelszczyzna) on the eastern side of the Vistula reaching into Ukraine, where they formed the Chernyakhov culture.

A Scandinavian stela

Between the Przeworsk culture and the Wielbark culture there was a clear separation and there appears to have been no detectable contacts.

The people of the Wielbark culture used both inhumation and cremation techniques for burying their dead. Whether they used one or the other varied from site to site and it is believed to have depended on family traditions.

A characteristic of this culture, which it had in common with southern Scandinavia, was the raising of stone covered mounds, stone circles, solitary stelae and variations of cobble cladding.

There were no weapons nor tools in the Wielbark culture graves, unlike the Przeworsk culture for which it was typical to give the dead such gifts. Instead, the gifts were mostly ornaments and costumes. A few graves have shown spurs, and this would be the only warrior attribute found.

Another feature of the Wielbark culture was the use of bronze to make ornaments and accessories. Silver was used seldom and gold rarely. Iron appears to have been used extremely rarely.

Wielbark Culture (red) in the first half of the 3rd century, with the island of Gotland (pink) and the traditional extent of Götaland (green)

The Wielbark culture is associated with Jordanes' account of the Goths leaving Scandza (Scandinavia) and their settlement in Gothiscandza. According to Jordanes they pushed away the local Rugians and Vandals when settling in the area. Gothiscandza was located at the mouth of the Vistula, and this area was given as the land of the Gutones (Pliny the Elder) or Gothones (Tacitus):

Beyond the Lygians dwell the Gothones, under the rule of a king; and thence held in subjection somewhat stricter than the other German nations, yet not so strict as to extinguish all their liberty. Immediately adjoining are the Rugians and Lemovians upon the coast of the ocean, and of these several nations the characteristics are a round shield, a short sword and kingly government.

The names given by Pliny and Tacitus appear to be identical to *Gutaniz, the reconstructed Proto-Germanic form of Gutans, the Goths' name for themselves.

Some have suggested that the three ships of Goths arriving at the Vistula is merely symbolic whereas others have ascribed the ships to the Gepids, the Ostrogoths and the Visigoths. A third interpretation is that the ships only contained the North Germanic clan of Amal's royal family.

Wielbark culture (red) in the early 3rd century, with Chernyakhov culture (orange) in the early 4th century, Götaland (green), Gotland (pink) and the Roman Empire (dark blue)

However, archaeologists are wary of ascribing ethnicities to archaeological cultures, and it is considered to be an extremely difficult matter (e.g. Kennewick Man). This is reflected by the names used for the cultures, usually baptised after the towns where remains are found. The latest tendency is to doubt the equation between the Wielbark Culture and the Goths, and it has been established that the Wielbark culture did not appear solely through immigration from Scandinavia. Instead it appears to have evolved from the Oksywie culture and possibly through Scandinavian influence. This theory is based on the fact that the Wielbark culture shared the same geographical extent as the Oksywie culture and even continued to use many of the Oksywie cemeteries. The settlements consisted both of the original inhabitants and of groups of Scandinavians. It is likely that the Goths were the ruling tribe in the area as Jordanes noted that the Goths subjected local inhabitants to their authority.

The present view is that the direct settlements of Goths (recorded by Jordanes as well as H. Schedel, see link) at the Mare Germanicum, today Poland, are those characterised by barrow cemeteries by which there are raised stone circles and solitary stelae (Scandinavian burial customs with a concentration in Götaland). This type is found between the Vistula and the Kashubian and Krajenskian lakelands reaching into the Koszalin region. These burial grounds appeared in the second half of the 1st century.

The Wielbark culture seems to have been a mixed society composed of both Goths and Gepids from Scandinavia as well as the previous inhabitants (mainly Vandals and Rugians). In the 3rd century, the Wielbark community left their settlements and reached their new homeland, Oium, in Ukraine, where they would found a new empire.

• A Polish Archaeology Article by Tadeusz Makiewicz
• Gothic jewelry, by Tomasz Skorupka, on a Polish museum site