the settlements, as the numerous merchant graves along the river testify. Artefacts unearthed at the site include scales, weights, silver horseshoe brooches, belt buckles, swords, coins, elaborate jewelry imported from Scandinavia, garment accessories and armament components. Scandinavian traders and craftmen lived and worked in central and port area, while peripheral area might be inhabitated also by Balts and Slavs. The Scandinavian influence on these settlements and artefacts is particularly obvious and confirms Viking expansion of settlement activity to Courland and Livland. As early as the 8th century, the first incursions of North Germanic groups took place, which lead to the founding of the Grobin/Seeburg settlement near Liepája. Archbishop Rimbert of Bremen recorded the immigration of a group under the Svea king Olaf during the 9th century. Author Gwyn Jones noted that at the circa 20 ha sized area "no true town has been found and excavated" and that the identification of the site in Elbląg with Truso is based on "finds of Norse weapons" and the presence of "a large Viking Age cemetery" nearby, According to Mateusz Bogucki "by now, there is no doubt that the settlement really is Wulfstan's Truso" The Elbląg Museum brochure: Truso- A Discovered Legend, by Marek F. Jagodziński, describes a large number of buildings found during the recent excavations, with burnt remains of posts suggesting buildings of around and long houses of about . A thick layer of ash, debris and numerous arrowheads suggest that the city was destroyed by pirates or invaders. Mateusz Bogucki of the Polish Academy of Sciences at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, states in his book Coin finds in the viking Age emporium at Janów Pomorski (Truso) and the Prussian phenomenon about ...the end of Truso as a port of trade...a strong political power, probably of Piast origin...sent warriors to try to take control...and destroyed the town. References External links The Project Gutenberg Etext of Discovery of Muscovy - The complete texts translated to modern English Historia de los Gotlandeses (Guta saga) Archaeological sites in Poland Former populated places in Eastern Europe Elbląg