ABSTRACT
This chapter, based on archaeological material obtained in the territory of the Latvian SSR, deals with interrelations between two essentially different cultural areas - the east Baltic and the Germanic regions. The Teutonic Knights' aggression in the east Baltic at the end of the 12th century established the basis for wider cultural contact between German peoples on the one hand and the BaIts and the Balto-Finns on the other. Most of the small crosses from the 13th to the 15th centuries are of indigenous make and their prevalence among women's ornaments, including other pendants, shows that their wearers regarded them as objects of adornment or as amulets; this was also partly the case with the eastern Slavs. Despite the assertions ofBalto-German and Western historiography underlining the role of the Germanic mission in the development of Latvian culture, between the 13th and the 16th centuries Latvian culture was founded for the most part on the cultural heritage of the local people.
