The scale of dirham imports to the Baltic in the ninth century: new evidence from archaeometric analyses of early Viking-Age silver

We present a high precision, minimally-destructive geochemical (lead isotope and trace element) analysis of nine cast silver items from early Viking-Age hoards from the Baltic. Comparing the data to a large reference dataset comprising Islamic dirhams and ninth-century Western European silver, we find that the artefacts were cast chiefly from recycled Islamic silver. Isotopic modelling reveals, further, that the Islamic silver derives from a stock that entered the central Baltic in the first half of the ninth century. This period has traditionally been characterised as one of low-level dirham import, before the escalation of the dirham trade from c. AD 860/70. Our results suggest instead that dirhams entered the central Baltic in significant numbers before c. 850, but were routinely melted down for casting into artefacts. This has two important implications. First, it suggests that the early ninth-century Baltic economy was more closely coupled to Eurasian trade networks than current appreciated. Second, it calls into question the reliance on extant dirhams as a guide to Scandinavia’s engagement in long-distance trade routes