Editing Masuria (section)

=== Prehistory and early history ===
Some of the earliest archeological finds in Masuria were found at [[Dudka, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship|Dudka]] and [[Szczepanki, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship|Szczepanki]] sites and belonged to the [[subneolithic]] [[Zedmar culture]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kozicka |first1=Magdalena |date=2017 |title=Absolute chronology of the Zedmar culture: Re-thinking radiocarbon dates |url=https://sciendo.com/pdf/10.1515/geochr-2015-0067 |journal=Geochronometria |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=256–268 |doi=10.1515/geochr-2015-0067 |bibcode=2017Gchrm..44..256K |s2cid=67850528 |access-date=2023-07-15 |archive-date=2023-07-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230715192943/https://sciendo.com/pdf/10.1515/geochr-2015-0067 |url-status=dead |doi-access=free }}</ref> Indo-European settlers first arrived in the region during the 4th millennium BC, which in the Baltic would diversify into the [[Centum and satem languages|satem]] [[Balto-Slavic]] branch which would ultimately give rise to the [[Balts]] as the speakers of the [[Baltic languages]].<ref name=dee/> The Balts would have become differentiated into Western and Eastern Balts in the late 1st millennium BC. The region was inhabited by ancestors of [[Western Balts]] – [[Old Prussians]], [[Sudovians]]/[[Jotvingians]], [[Scalvians]], [[Nadruvians]], and [[Curonians]] while the eastern Balts settled in what is now [[Lithuania]], [[Latvia]] and [[Belarus]].<ref name=dee>{{cite web  |url= https://deepbaltic.com/2016/03/02/the-old-prussians-the-lost-relatives-of-latvians-and-lithuanians/  |title= The Old Prussians: the Lost Relatives of Latvians and Lithuanians  |date= March 2, 2016  |publisher= deep baltic  |author= Agris Dzenis  |access-date= September 6, 2020  |archive-date= August 13, 2020  |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200813192908/https://deepbaltic.com/2016/03/02/the-old-prussians-the-lost-relatives-of-latvians-and-lithuanians/  |url-status= live  }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.britannica.com/place/Prussia |title= Prussia, region |publisher= Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date= September 6, 2020 |archive-date= May 8, 2015 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150508092225/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/480893/Prussia |url-status= live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=WILLEKE |first1=AUDRONE |date=1990 |title=The Image of the Heathen Prussians in German Literature |url= |journal=Colloquia Germanica |volume=23 |issue=3/4 |pages=223–239 |publisher=[[Jstor]] |doi= |jstor=23980816 |pmc= |pmid= |access-date= |name-list-style=vanc}}</ref>

The Greek explorer [[Pytheas]] (4th century BC) may have referred to the territory as ''Mentenomon'' and to the inhabitants as ''Guttones'' (neighbours of the ''[[Teutones]]'', probably referring to the [[Goths]]).<ref>{{cite book|title=Sledzenia Poczatkow Narodu Litewskiego I Poczatki Jego Dziejow|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HdNiAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA222|year=1837|publisher=Marcinowski|pages=222–|access-date=2023-07-15|archive-date=2023-10-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231001134151/https://books.google.com/books?id=HdNiAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA222|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web  |url= https://book-city.de/onAir/bookview.php?bookId=9815&chapterId=6  |title= Zur Urgeschichte der Deutschen  |publisher= book-city  |access-date= September 6, 2020  }}{{Dead link|date=July 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> In AD&nbsp;98 [[Tacitus]] described one of the tribes living near the Baltic Sea ({{langx|la|Mare Suebicum}}) as ''[[Aesti|Aestiorum gentes]]'' and [[amber]]-gatherers.<ref>{{cite web  |url= https://www.academia.edu/30203687  |title= LITHUANIAN AMBER ARTIFACTS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FIRST MILLENNIUM AND THEIR PROVENANCE WITHIN THE LIMITS OF EASTERN BALTIC REGION  |publisher= Academia  |author= Audrone Bliujiene  |access-date= September 6, 2020  |archive-date= March 13, 2022  |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220313160535/https://www.academia.edu/30203687  |url-status= live  }}</ref>