The location of landing-sites in cultural landscape seems to be determined predominantly by suitable natural conditions, in order to enable safe landing for the water vehicles. In case of harbour sites, the dimension of cultural landscape is added, meaning that the place needs to correspond to conditions that are important in the given society. However, the conditions vary depending on the function of the harbour site. In my earlier works I have demonstrated that, in the pre-state society, in addition to topographic indicators the choice of the harbour site was greatly dependant on the location of agricultural land in the radius of at least 5 kilometres. Archaeological sites in arable lands or in their vicinity enable guessing the one-time function of the harbour site. In addition to practical tasks (e.g. commercial harbour, fishing harbour, war harbour etc.), other possibilities that are more difficult to perceive by archaeological methods, for example a ritual gathering place, are suggested. Of the Estonian more closely studied Iron Age and medieval harbour sites, Viltina on the southern coast of Saaremaa Island seems to be the case in point (Fig. 1). [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] The settlement site of Viltina in cultural landscape The 18th century could be considered the beginning of the village of Viltina. On the cadastrial map from the end of the 17th century there are still single farmsteads (Estonian Historical Archives 308-2-64); however, a small hamlet named Filtin has already been marked on a map a century later (Mellin 1798). Of the single farmsteads from the 17th century the biggest and perhaps the most important one was called Koffera, a slightly smaller farmstead next to it bore the name of Murke. In the 17th century the farmsteads were situated approximately 600 metres from the coast. Both Koffera and Murke as well as other farms on the territory of later Viltina at the time belonged to the manor of Audla (Haucul), the centre of which was located at 7.5 km distance (Estonian Historical Archives 308-2-64). Since the rest of the farmsteads in the Koiguste Peninsula belonged to local manors, from the perspective of the local cultural landscape the separate coastal estate of Audla manor might be considered a slightly unusual feature. It is possible that the phenomenon can be interpreted as a remnant from the period when the surroundings of Viltina were still important as a harbour, which was administered by Audla as the oldest and the most influential manor of the neighbourhood. It is not known when the coastal farmsteads of Viltina started off. In the majority of cases identified in the Baltic Sea countries the farmsteads and villages of the second half of the Iron Age remained at one or two km distance from the coast. The permanent habitation shifted closer to the sea only in the 13th-14th century (see e.g. Crumlin-Pedersen 1996). The phenomenon is mostly explained by the activity of pirates, which was characteristic of pre-state societies and made the living too close to the coast dangerous. The situation changed with the formation of central administration that was capable of providing enough safety to the coastal villages. However, during the Middle Ages and later people never lived directly on the beach--the coastal villages of the time always remained at least 100-200 metres from the waterfront. Daily life directly on the beach would have been complicated because of storms, the rise of the water level and ridged ice. On account of the said, the archaeological settlement layer in the vicinity of the former shoreline is everywhere in the Nordic countries interpreted as a harbour site, even if its general appearance hardly differs from a common settlement site (e.g. Crumlin-Pedersen 1991; Nasman 1991; Christoffersen & Porsmose 1996; Ulriksen 1998; Magi 2004a, 147 ff.). The arable land of Viltina village is stony and not especially fertile; its quality is slightly better in the villages of Randvere and Asva, which lie 1-2 kilometres from Viltina in opposite directions. …