Silver, butter, cloth: Monetary and social Economies in the Viking Age

Silver, Butter, Cloth advances current debates about the nature and complexity of Viking economic systems. It explores how silver and other commodities were used in monetary and social economies across the Scandinavian world of the Viking Age (c. 800-1100 AD) before and alongside the wide scale introduction of coinage. Taking a multi-disciplinary approach that unites archaeological, numismatic, and metallurgical analyses, Kershaw and Williams examine the uses and sources of silver in both monetary and social transactions, addressing topics such as silver fragmentation, hoarding, and coin production and re-use. Uniquely, it also goes beyond silver, giving the first detailed consideration of the monetary role of butter, cloth, and gold in the Viking economy. Indeed, it is instrumental in developing methodologies to identify such commodity monies in the archaeological record. The use of silver and other commodities within Viking economies is a dynamic field of study, fuelled by important recent discoveries across the Viking world. The 14 contributions to this book, by a truly international group of scholars, draw on newly available archaeological data from eastern Europe, Scandinavia, the North Atlantic, and the British Isles and Ireland, to present the latest original research. Together, they deepen understanding of Viking monetary and social economies and advance new definitions of 'economy', 'currency', and 'value' in the ninth to eleventh centuries

Individual geographic mobility in a Viking-Age emporium—Burial practices and strontium isotope analyses of Ribe’s earliest inhabitants

Individual geographic mobility is a key social dynamic of early Viking-Age urbanization in Scandinavia. We present the first comprehensive geographic mobility study of Scandinavia’s earliest emporium, Ribe, which emerged around AD 700 in the North Sea region of Denmark. This article presents the results of strontium isotope analyses of 21 individuals buried at Ribe, combined with an in-depth study of the varied cultural affinities reflected by the burial practices. In order to investigate geographic mobility in early life/childhood, we sampled multiple teeth and/or petrous bone of individuals, which yielded a total of 43 strontium isotope analyses. Most individuals yielded strontium isotope values that fell within a relatively narrow range, between 87Sr/86Sr = 0.709 to 0.711. Only two individuals yielded values >87Sr/86Sr = 0.711. This suggests that most of these individuals had local origins but some had cultural affinities beyond present-day Denmark. Our results raise new questions concerning our understanding of the social and cultural dynamics behind the urbanization of Scandinavia

The origins of Odense – new aspects of early urbanisation in southern Scandinavia

The article presents an updated study of the centuries prior to Odense’s traditional ‘birth certificate’ of AD 988, resulting in a new model for the urbanisation of Odense. The conclusion reached is that there was activity of a permanent and possibly urban character in Odense from the end of the late eighth century until the late tenth century. The town’s development can be followed through three phases. Phases 1 and 2 cover the periods AD 700–900 and AD 900–100, respectively, while phase 3 covers the period AD 1000-1101. During phases 1 and 2, the proto-town develops through bottomup processes, such as network, crafts and possibly trade. After AD 1000, Odense develops into a town proper, under royal influence. The model from Odense provides the background for a fresh view of urbanisation in southern Scandinavia in general. A three-phase model is proposed. Phase 0 constitutes the emporia of the eighth–ninth century, which perhaps primarily is satellites in a trading network controlled from the south. Phase 1 takes the form of locally initiated and based incipient urbanisation extending from the end of the eighth century until the tenth century. Phase 2 comprises the royally established towns from around AD 1000 onwards