1 Final proof-read manuscript, June 2015. Published in L. Melheim, H. Glørstad & Z.T. Glørstad (eds.) 2016: Comparative Perspectives on Past Colonisation, Maritime Interaction and Cultural Integration. Equinox Publishing, Sheffield/Bristol, pp. 1-15. Comparative perspectives on past colonization, maritime interaction and cultural integration – an introduction Zanette Tsigaridas Glørstad, Håkon Glørstad and Lene Melheim The allure of foreign shores Insofar as European History started with Greek writings, European history starts with a grand journey to foreign shores. Homer’s Odyssey is a universal epic expressing a deep human desire and fascination – the fascination with foreign places and adventurous journeys, and with the tale of how a strange land is taken into knowledge and possession. The description of Odysseus’ dramatic voyages is by no means exceptional to European literature, but is mirrored in grand tales from other parts of the globe, like the Mesopotamian epic Gilgamesh (18th–10th centuries BC) and the Hindu epic Ramayana (4th–2nd centuries BC). It is also well represented in Old Norse poetry. The journey is the ideal metaphor for the struggles humans have to endure to fulfil our aspirations, receive wisdom and become complete, and across time and space dreams and prospects for the future are represented by the allure of foreign shores. The literary and poetic fascination for the journey is firmly anchored in the practical world. Colonizing a landscape – either pristine or already inhabited – is a fundamental feature of human history. In combination with traditional archaeological and historical methods, the new possibilities offered by modern science to detect human genetic variation and mobility demonstrate the degree to which people in prehistory were, in fact, on the move, seeking out new territories and shores – re-establishing and refurbishing their communities in new settings. Perhaps one could even see the archaeological urge for mapping human movement, which has been rekindled by the new scientific methods, as another aspect of this fascination. This book explores processes of colonization and cultural encounters from the end of the last Ice Age to the present. The perspective is cross‐cultural and interdisciplinary. Key themes are: the historical circumstances of processes of colonization, relations to the places of real or imagined origins, the cultural implications of translocality, the effects of human mobility upon cultural integration, the advantages and challenges of the natural setting and the available means of communication technology. The volume springs from two events. One was the session MOVING ON – COLONISATION AS A SOCIAL PROCESS, organised by Håkon Glørstad, Jarmo Kankaanpää and Ole Grøn at the European Association of Archaeologists conference in Helsinki in September 2012. The other was a conference in Oslo in December 2012, PAST MIRRORS: INTERACTION AND INTEGRATION IN THE NORTH SEA REGION IN THE BRONZE AND VIKING AGES, which was held jointly by the Nordic Graduate School in Archaeology and the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo,