Abstract
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.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Silver, Butter, Cloth |
Subtitle of host publication | Monetary and Social Economies in the Viking Age |
Editors | Jane Kershaw, Gareth Williams |
Place of Publication | Oxford |
Publisher | Oxford University Press |
Chapter | 14 |
Pages | 278-297 |
Number of pages | 19 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9780192563057 |
ISBN (Print) | 9780198827986 |
Publication status | Published - 6 Dec 2018 |
Publication series
Name | Medieval History and Archaeology |
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Publisher | Oxford University Press |
Keywords
- 15ref2021
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Dive into the research topics of 'Tracing the Late Viking Age and Medieval Butter Economy: The View from Quoygrew, Orkney'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Profiles
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Jen Harland
- UHI Orkney
- Archaeology Institute - Lecturer
Person: Academic - Research and Teaching or Research only