Contacts of the residents of Privolnoye-1 settlement on the Kaliningrad peninsula at the end of the 11th-13th centuries

The paper describes the first results of the investigation carried out at the Privolnoye-1 unfortified settlement, which is an archaeological heritage site, in 2016 and 2021. The site is located in the north of the Kaliningrad peninsula within the ancient area inhabited by the Prussian population known as the Sembians and, based on the currently available material, is dated to the end of the 11th - early 13th centuries, to the so called ‘Late Pagan Period' of the local chronology. This unfortified settlement stands out among other Prussian medieval settlements because of the occupation layer with an exceptional abundance of individual and frequent finds as well as the nature of these finds. Along with the artifacts typical for the material culture of both medieval Prussians and their neighbors such as the Kurshi, the Skalvians, and the Livs and well as evidence of trade with medieval western European states, for the first time in the history of the excavations on the peninsula numerous items ascribed to Medieval Rus antiquities were discovered in the context of the settlement. These finds provide evidence of cultural, trading and, apparently, legal relationship between the settlement residents and the population of Medieval Rus in the period between the Viking Age and the startup of the crusader expansion of the Teutonic Order to the Prussian lands.