Silver and the Silver Economy at Hedeby

Description

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. 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