Bardy-Świelubie or Bartin-Zwillipp near modern Kolobrzeg

Kolobrzeg

Kołobrzeg is a city in Middle Pomerania in north-western Poland with some 50,000 inhabitants . Kołobrzeg is located on the Parsęta River on the south coast of the Baltic Sea...

 (West Pomeranian Voivodship) was a Viking Age

Viking Age

Viking Age is the term for the period in European history, especially Northern European and Scandinavian history, spanning the late 8th to 11th centuries. Scandinavian Vikings explored Europe by its oceans and rivers through trade and warfare. The Vikings also reached Iceland, Greenland,...

 Slavic-Scandinavian

Scandinavians

Scandinavians are a group of Germanic peoples, inhabiting Scandinavia and to a lesser extent countries associated with Scandinavia, and speaking Scandinavian languages. The group includes Danes, Norwegians and Swedes, and additionally the descendants of Scandinavian settlers such as the Icelandic...

 settlement on the southern Baltic coast. It is named after the modern villages of Bardy

Bardy, Poland

Bardy is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Dygowo, within Kołobrzeg County, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-western Poland...

 and Świelubie

Swielubie, West Pomeranian Voivodeship

Świelubie is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Dygowo, within Kołobrzeg County, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-western Poland. It lies approximately south-west of Dygowo, south-east of Kołobrzeg, and north-east of the regional capital Szczecin.Before 1945 the area was...

.

Bardy-Świelubie differs from other emporia: The location is rather far from the coastline, and Bardy was built before 800, making it one of the earliest Slavic burgh

Burgh

A burgh was an autonomous corporate entity in Scotland and Northern England, usually a town. This type of administrative division existed from the 12th century, when King David I created the first royal burghs. Burgh status was broadly analogous to borough status, found in the rest of the United...

s in the coastal area. Archaeological findings indicate participation in Carolingian

Carolingian Empire

Carolingian Empire is a historiographical term which has been used to refer to the realm of the Franks under the Carolingian dynasty in the Early Middle Ages. This dynasty is seen as the founders of France and Germany, and its beginning date is based on the crowning of Charlemagne, or Charles the...

 trade, but evidence of non-Slavic presence is missing for this early stage.

In the 9th century, Scandinavians (men and women) settled the site, as is evident from the adjacent Hügelgrab grave field in Świelubie. The Scandinavian colony is estimated to have held between 50 and 70 inhabitants. The exact site of the settlement, whether inside or close to the burgh, is not yet determined,A Slavic burgh as a predecessor for a Scandinavian settlement is not observed elsewhere, with the possible, but not yet evident exception of Wollin.

Bardy-Świelubie was vacated in the late 9th century, when the Slavic grad of Kołobrzeg became the new center of the region.