There is a certain amount of circumstantial evidence for Groß Strömkendorf being Reric such as identical foundation and destruction dates.[1] Groß Strömkendorf was a deep water port with a planned layout. Initially north of the present site, the earlier settlement - probably established in 735[9] - was gradually moved south in the 760s, the original area being turned into a cemetery. The new, extended site contained buildings similar to the sunken floor buildings of West Stow in England. Pottery included, among others, tatting ware and shelly ware. The primary type of pottery found so far was the Sukow type, associated used by the West Slavs during the 8th century.[10] Pottery of the succeeding Feldberg type was also found, though in considerably lower number.[10] Imported pottery from western countries was only scarcely represented.[10] Hoards of Norwegian schist whetstones were found, also evidence of textile, iron and bronze working, but no major industrial evidence, indicating that production was likely for local use only. Unfinished products and garbage pieces point at the production of items made of glass, metals including iron, amber, and horn.[10] The most recent find of wood that can be dated is from the year 811 and the finding situation suggests that the settlement ceased to exist a little later.[11]
The settlement stretched 500 meters along the coast,[10] and covered a surface of at least 20 hectars.[12] Within a 10 kilometer range around the settlement, remains of Slavic open settlements have been found.[10] The nearby fortified strongholds of Mecklenburg and Ilow were, like Reric, founded in the early 8th century, thus constituting some of the earliest Slavic settlements near the Baltic coast.[10]
As reported by the Annales regni Francorum of 808 Ain D, Danish king Gudfred (also Godofrid, Gøttrik) had received plenty of tribute from Reric in the years before,[1] but in 808 "destroyed"[1] the emporium and took with him "the merchants hereof".[1] Gudfred resettled them in Hedeby (also Haithabu, Sliasthorp), a contemporary emporium closer to Denmark.[1] This event was part of ongoing warfare between Denmark and Charlemagne's Frankish Empire, in the course of which the Franks had allied with the Obodrites.[1] The destruction of the site may not have been total, since an Obodrite duke, Drazko, is reported murdered at Reric the following year.[1] The archeological finds since the 1990s perfectly match these records, as the latest dateable wellwoods found in Reric are from the years 806, 809 and 811.[13]
"Reregi", an alternative name of the Obodrites used by the medieval chroniclers Adam of Bremen and Helmold of Bosau, is probably a rendering of "Reric".[1]
- Astrid Tummuscheit: Groß Strömkendorf. Zur Entwicklung des frühmittelalterlichen Seehandelsplatzes anhand dendrochronologischer Datierungen, in: The Early Slavic Settlement in Central Europe in the light of new dating evidence, S. 103-119, Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology Polish Academy of Science (Hg.), Wroclav 2013
References
S. Brather Rerik // Johannes Hoops Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde 2nd edition, Walter de Gruyter, 2003, pp.514,515, ISBN 3-11-017575-4 Jürgen Happ, Reric, der verlorene Handelsplatz der Wikinger am südwestlichen Zipfel der Ostsee 2nd edition, Mensing, 2004, ISBN 3-87533-007-2 Ole Harck, Christian Lübke, Zwischen Reric und Bornhöved: Die Beziehungen zwischen den Dänen und ihren slawischen Nachbarn vom 9. Bis ins 13. Jahrhundert: Beiträge einer internationalen Konferenz, Leipzig, 4.-6. Dezember 1997, Franz Steiner Verlag, 2001, p.25, ISBN 3-515-07671-9 Ole Harck, Christian Lübke, Zwischen Reric und Bornhöved: Die Beziehungen zwischen den Dänen und ihren slawischen Nachbarn vom 9. Bis ins 13. Jahrhundert: Beiträge einer internationalen Konferenz, Leipzig, 4.-6. Dezember 1997, Franz Steiner Verlag, 2001, pp.11,12, ISBN 3-515-07671-9 Herrmann, Joachim (1970). Die Slawen in Deutschland. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag GmbH. p. 530. p. 113 (in German)
Ole Harck, Christian Lübke, Zwischen Reric und Bornhöved: Die Beziehungen zwischen den Dänen und ihren slawischen Nachbarn vom 9. Bis ins 13. Jahrhundert: Beiträge einer internationalen Konferenz, Leipzig, 4.-6. Dezember 1997, Franz Steiner Verlag, 2001, p.12, ISBN 3-515-07671-9