The trade of silver in Viking Age Scandinavia is intertwined with the development and collapse of long distance trade routes stretching as far as the North Atlantic in the West to Central Asia in the East. Hedeby, a Viking emporium, was an important gateway of trade between the Baltic and North Seas, and this makes it is an ideal place to explore the evolution of the silver supply in the 10th and 11th centuries A.D. The elemental and lead isotope compositions of locally minted Hedeby coins were compared to jewelry objects, hacksilver and imported silver coins, and four chronologically related shifts could be identified that reflect changes in the origin and type of raw materials used. This study features the use of laser ablation mass spectrometry of ca. 200 silver objects, and these analyses are placed in a broader context of early medieval silver metallurgy, mining archaeology and numismatics to interpret the compositional shifts as shifts in trade. Additionally, studies on crucibles and lead-based finds from Hedeby were carried out as well as the analysis of ore and slag from Central Asia to explore recycling and silver production technologies during the Viking period.
Author(s): Stephen William Merkel
Series: Raw Materials, Innovation, Technology of Ancient Cultures RITaK, 2
Publisher: Verlag Marie Leidorf
Year: 2016
Language: English
Pages: 274
City: Bochum
Preface vi
Acknowledgements 13
Abstract 13
1. Chapter. Introduction to Silver and the Silver Economy of Hedeby 15
2. Chapter. Archaeometallurgy of Silver. An Overview of the Early Medieval Period 19
3. Chapter. Hedeby and the Silver Economy of the Viking Age 35
4. Chapter. Silver Mining and the Trade of Silver in the Early Medieval Period 49
5. Chapter. Archaeometry and Viking-Age Silver 67
6. Chapter. Material Analysis. Methods, Procedures and Data Quality 79
7. Chapter. Analytical Results and Discussion 91
8. Chapter. Conclusions and Recommendations for Future Research 115
Appendix A. Catalogue 121
Appendix B. List of Analyses 171
Appendix C. Elemental Analysis 181
Appendix D. Lead Isotope Anaylsis 193
Appendix E. Glossary of Minerals and Phases 201
Appendix F. XRF Artifact Scans 205
Appendix G. Analysis of Technical Ceramics Related to Gold and Silver Smithing at Hedeby 209
Appendix H. Elemental and Lead Isotope Analysis of Lead, Tin, and Refining Debris from Hedeby 223
Appendix I. Analysis of Slag and Ore from the Tashkent and Samarqand Areas: Medieval Silver Extraction and the Coinage of Samanid Central Asia 231
References 255
