University of Latvia Interdisciplinary Research Incubator

TheBeginningsof Latvia

Latvia and the Latvian nation took shape where many languages, cultures, powers, environments and geological conditions met. Yet the earliest stages in the development of Latvia’s local peoples, and their paths towards the present-day state, can mostly be traced only through echoes – in the results of archaeological research and fragments of written sources, in traces left in language and place names, in traditions and cultural expression, in changes of the landscape and geological structures, and in the genes and biological heritage of the people, animals and plants of this land.

The Beginnings of Latvia brings together the knowledge of researchers and institutions from many fields to explore Latvia’s history from the earliest times to the 17th century – a period for which written sources are scarce or missing altogether.

01About

Today, as knowledge accumulates across many fields, new possibilities are emerging to amplify these echoes. New digital, material-analysis and other research methods, together with access to sources, tools and data that were previously unavailable or hard to reach, make it possible to obtain new evidence and to revisit the unresolved questions of Latvia’s history. This makes interdisciplinary approaches and interdisciplinary skills more important than ever.

The Beginnings of Latvia is a permanent interdisciplinary collaboration platform. It connects researchers in history and archaeology, language history, place names, language contact and typology, intangible culture and folklore, anthropology, geology, palaeobotany, genetics and other fields, so that together they can address the open questions of Latvia’s earliest history.

Questions we explore

ethnic composition, the distribution of peoples and their contacts in the pre-Christian era and later;
the formation of distinct cultural spaces and regions;
the consolidation of the Latvian nation;
the impact of contacts on the origins of Latvia and its peoples.

What collaboration makes possible

The Beginnings of Latvia enables researchers to:

pool the resources of different disciplines to study questions essential to Latvia’s early history;
gain a deeper understanding of other fields, their methods and how they can be applied;
test existing and emerging hypotheses and theories against data and insights from other fields;
share research topics and results with colleagues in Latvia, the Baltic Sea region and across Europe;
form interdisciplinary and international research groups for joint publications and national and European projects.

How we work

At the heart of The Beginnings of Latvia is a regular series of events – expert discussions, seminars and public lectures held roughly every two months. They are complemented by researcher visits and exchange with colleagues abroad, joint publications in leading journals of the respective fields, and joint project applications. Particular attention is paid to early-career and emerging researchers – doctoral, master’s and bachelor’s students – who take part in all our activities and for whom a winter or summer school will also be held.

Knowledge for society

In today’s geopolitical situation, when unexplored questions of earlier history are often used to construct false narratives, a comprehensive understanding of how Latvia came to be is especially important. It matters not only for research into the history and culture of Latvia and Europe, but for society as a whole – to counter misconceptions about Latvia’s origins and to offer research-based knowledge that strengthens people’s sense of belonging to Latvia, its diverse roots, its cultural heritage and its present-day expressions. This is why The Beginnings of Latvia also shares its results in popular form, together with memory institutions, schools and interest groups.

History
Archaeology
Anthropology
Language history
Place names
Language contact
Folklore
Intangible culture
Geology
Palaeobotany
Genetics

02Partners

The Beginnings of Latvia is implemented by the Livonian Institute of the University of Latvia Faculty of Humanities. Its core is a network of University of Latvia units: the Institute of Latvian History, the Department of History and Archaeology, the Latvian Language Institute and the Livonian Institute of the Faculty of Humanities, together with the Department of Geology of the Faculty of Science and Technology. Here the expertise of anthropologists, archaeologists and zooarchaeologists, historians, researchers of dialects, place names and personal names, specialists in Livonian language and history, folklore and palaeoecology comes together. Discussions about the need for such a platform had been taking place informally for more than a year before the University of Latvia Development Programme with High Impact made it possible to put the idea into practice.

Our strategic international partner is the University of Tartu Centre of Excellence in archaeology, genetics and linguistics “Estonian Roots” (Eesti juured), which brings together Estonian researchers from the humanities and natural sciences with a similar aim. The shared North-Eastern Baltic region makes this cooperation especially important; it includes the exchange of knowledge and research as well as joint future projects. The Centre already addresses questions of Latvian history: ancient DNA is being studied together with the UL Institute of Latvian History, and settlement history and ethnic boundaries together with the UL Livonian Institute.

Our strategic partners in Latvia are the Latvian National Museum of History and the Latvian Academy of Culture. The Museum is one of the most important repositories of sources on Latvian history, a centre of research in archaeology, history, numismatics and ethnography, and one of the main platforms for explaining history to the public; together with the Museum, the international conference series “Humans and Communities” is being held from 2026 to 2029. The Latvian Academy of Culture contributes its research expertise to the thematic planning of The Beginnings of Latvia and shares its experience in transferring knowledge to society.

Our partners also include the Latvian Archaeological Society, which plays a key role in engaging the community of historical researchers, and the National Heritage Board of Latvia, which helps ensure that new knowledge is transferred and used for the protection and visibility of Latvia’s cultural heritage.

Researchers from the UL Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art, the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music, the University of Helsinki, Vilnius University, Ventspils Museum, Tallinn University of Technology, the Institute of the Estonian Language, the Võro Institute and other institutions also take part in our activities. Such inter-institutional, interdisciplinary and cross-border cooperation makes it possible to pool knowledge and resources across the Baltic Sea region and, together with our Estonian partners, to build a cooperation network in the countries of the northern Baltic Sea region.

UL Livonian Institute
University of Latvia
University of Tartu
Centre of Excellence “Estonian Roots”
Latvian National Museum of History
Latvian Academy of Culture
Latvian Archaeological Society
National Heritage Board of Latvia

03Activities

The Beginnings of Latvia brings together researchers from many fields in regular events – expert discussions, seminars and public lectures – as well as in international conferences held with our partners. In the first year the focus is on the existing knowledge of each field; in the following years, on open problems and new directions of research. Here you will find news of upcoming events, reports from past ones and news from our partners.

29–30 October 2026 · Conference

Humans and Communities I: Archaeology and Prehistory

The Latvian National Museum of History, together with The Beginnings of Latvia, holds an international conference at Riga Castle that opens a series on community as an enduring yet changing phenomenon in the course of history. 25 researchers from eight European countries combine insights from archaeology, history, linguistics, genetics and other fields to examine how prehistoric communities formed, expressed their identity and changed. The series is inspired by the Museum’s new core exhibition “Streaming Time” and continues until 2029.

5 October 2026 · Presentation

The Beginnings of Latvia presented in Pärnu

At “Estonian Roots in Pärnu”, a meeting of the Centre of Excellence “Estonian Roots” at the University of Tartu Pärnu College, Valts Ernštreits introduced The Beginnings of Latvia. Pärnu was no accidental choice: the formation of the Gulf of Riga and its surroundings, and contacts between Estonia and Latvia, are central topics for the Centre and are closely linked to the research of The Beginnings of Latvia.