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Hajar | all galleries >> Viking Age Art >> Commerce > Viking Age scales and spheroid oblate weights
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11-FEB-2012

Viking Age scales and spheroid oblate weights

"The village used to be a prosperous trading outpost in the 8th and 9th centuries. A multi-ethnic settlement, it was dominated by Scandinavians who were called by the name of Rus and for that reason it is sometimes called the first capital of Russia." Wikipedia
"It is estimated that between 90 to 95% of all Arab dirhams found in Sweden passed through Ladoga."

The Byzantine barrel weight (sold by Timelines as as Anglo-Scandinavian with two inscribed runes) is inscribed with ȣΓ = 3 Roman ounces.

According to Jane Kershaw, Oblate spheroids first arrived in Scandinavia during the late ninth century, along with large numbers of Islamic silver coins known as dirhams. They are thus closely associated with the weighing of silver as payment: a connection supported by the fact that some silver hoards from Scandinavia contain oblate-spheroid weights.

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