Pins on the run. Traces of (Cimbri) migrations from the Jutland peninsula during the third millennium BC

During the last fifty years, the evidence of archaeological material originating from different provinces of the Jastorf culture and Jutland found in Poland and further east and south-east has been growing rapidly. The generally accepted interpretation of this has been that it is evidence of the migration of the Bastarnae from North-western Europe to the Black Sea area. However, there is no evidence that there ever lived a people of that name in the area of the supposed origin of this culture, so it must be a name assumed on the way to the new homeland. If so, then the people who took part in the migration and eventually made up the Bastarnae, had originally belonged to other ethnic groups whose names today are unknown. While the archaeological material is growing, the possibilities to look into the different origins of this migration become better. In this paper I shall focus on one particular group of artefact finds that may shed some light on the ethnic composition of the Bastarnae, namely pins of Jutland origin. The second aim of the paper is an attempt to reconcile the historic sources with the archaeological evidence. It is argued that many of the descriptions handed over to us from classical writers, which are being disregarded by modern historians, actually match the archaeological evidence. It is therefore suggested to read the historical sources in a different way, where the Cimbri took a longer eastern route through Europe before entering into conflict with the Romans.