Wholeness and Holiness: 8 Counting, Weighing and Valuing Silver in The

63076_kaupang_r01.qxd 06/08/08 11:01 Side 253 Wholeness and Holiness: 8 Counting,Weighing and Valuing Silver in the Early Viking Period christoph kilger This chapter examines the use of silver as a medium of payment in the Early Viking Period. Kaupang has yielded comprehensive evidence of craft activity and long-distance trade crossing economic, political and ethnic boundaries. The working hypothesis of this chapter is that exchange across such borders was undertaken outside a socially binding “sphere”, a situation that was made possible by the existence of different forms of market trade. It is argued that there had existed standardised media of value, or “cash/money” in Kaupang, which made calculations and payment for goods possible. Such were the cir- cumstances from when Kaupang was founded at the beginning of the 9th century to the abandonment of the town sometime in the middle of the 10th. The use of “money” at Kaupang is approached from two angles. For “money” to be acceptable as an item of value depends on the one hand upon unshakable reference points that are rooted in an imaginary con- ceptual world. The value of “money” was guaranteed in terms of inalienable possessions which stabilized and at the same time initiated exchange relationships. On the other hand, money as a medium of exchange relates to a scale of calculation which legitimates and defines its exchange-value. This scale makes it possible to compare goods and put a price upon them. In this study, it is argued that in the Viking Period there were three different principles of value and payment that were materially embodied in the outer form and weight of the silver object. These were coins, rings/ingots, and fragmented silver respectively. Both coins and rings/ingots were used and valued as complete objects. The wholeness of the object was essential for the concepts of value to exist. The meaning of the coin as an object of value was rooted in a world of Antique- Christian concepts, and its status as a unit of reckoning was guaranteed through seedcorn calculation. The value of the rings and ingots was rooted in the concept of the god Odin’s eternal and stable gold ring, and their character as calculable objects guaranteed through aurar-calculation: i.e. a given number of coins per eyrir (Norw.: øre; “ounce”). Hacksilver, by contrast, has no body, and its meaning as a form of currency was indissolubly dependent upon the use of standardized weights which sanctioned the economic value of this amorphous silver. The status of hacksilver as a calculable substance of value was guaranteed through ertog- calculation. It is argued here that aurar-objects were the fundamental media of payment and valuation at Kaupang. Coins were not accepted as items of value because they referred to Christian values and ideas which held sway in the monetized Frankish realm. Coins were used simply as units of reckoning that made aurar- objects calculable. The transition all over Scandinavia to an economy based upon hacksilver in the 10th century is described in this chapter as a revolutionary process that brought into question the existing conventions of value that were based upon the concept of the eyrir and upon objects which preserved their bodily wholeness. The use of hacksilver apparently obtained a foothold at Kaupang as early as the 9th century. When the use of standardized weights and the practice of fragmentation was accepted in the 10th century, outside of the boundaries of the town as well, Kaupang’s position as an aurar-site and the central trading place in Viken was challenged, which contributed to the demise of the town. 8. kilger: wholeness and holiness 253 63076_kaupang_bd2.qxd 29/07/08 10:22 Side 254 8.1 Introduction accumulation of coins, weights and hacksilver. What When Ohthere from Hålogaland tied up at the whar- we find at this site is evidence of exchange activity in ves of Kaupang in Skiringssal and disembarked, his the form of silver and weights: namely the medium of voyage there had been a long one. Of all the North- payment and the appropriate equipment; but rarely men, Ohthere lived furthest north. He had sailed, do we find the goods themselves that were the objects without a stop, from his harbour in the vicinity of of trade. Any organic material has long since disap- modern Tromsø southwards along the coast of Nor- peared. On a few plots we also have clear evidence of way all the way to Skiringssal. There he intended to metalcasting, in the form of crucibles, moulds and make a short stay in order to rest before continuing lumps of melted lead (Pilø 2007d:207–8; Pedersen, in across Viken down to the town of Hedeby. From the prep.). Traces of silver and gold metal in crucibles account he gave, this was probably not the first time show that precious-metalworking was practised (Pe- that he had made this voyage and visited Kaupang. dersen, in prep.). A lump of semi-melted dirhams The presentation of the distances and the stages, geo- may reveal that coins were melted down in order to graphical and topographical descriptions of the areas make larger units such as the silver ingots of stan- of land he was passing, and the account of the wind dardized weight (Blackburn, this vol. Ch. 3.1.2, Fig. conditions and the anchorages, show that he had 3.1). The archaeological finds from Kaupang thus along experience of the sea and the sailing routes he reveal a considerable variety of ways of using silver. was recording. We also know from his earlier ac- The aim of the present chapter is to study the multi- count of an expedition into the White Sea that he was faceted exchange relationships of the Early Viking engaged in exchange trade involving pelts and walrus Period that made use of silver and of which evidence ivory. As the powerful chieftain in Hålogaland he is found at Kaupang. was, Ohthere collected the tax from the Saami. This tax was paid in hides, whalebone, down, furs, leather The northern route, and three different clothing and leather ropes in fixed and specific quan- concepts of silver as currency tities (Lund 1983:20–4). His travelogue is found inter- The route from Northern Norway to Hedeby was polated into one of the standard reference works of also a journey across the wide spectrum of practices Early-medieval geography, the world history of the in respect of payment and standards of value that we Spaniard Paulus Orosius from the 5th century which know of in the Viking and early post-Viking Periods. was translated into an Old English version at the If we look more closely at the Early Viking-period sil- court of King Alfred the Great of Wessex in the 890s ver finds from along Ohthere’s route, several clear (Lund 1983:7–10). regional differences emerge. In Northern Norway The text does not say whether or not Ohthere and all the way down the coast of Norway to Kaup- engaged in any exchange trade in Kaupang or ang there is a large number of silver hoards. As a rule, Hedeby, or whether he was able to find a market for these do not contain coins, but usually ring-jew- his sought-after wares from the north of Norway. For ellery, normally neckrings (Hårdh 1996:47–8 and the English compiler who added Ohthere’s account 192–6). But there are also hoards consisting primarily to the text of Orosius, that was of no great interest. of armrings (e.g. Grieg 1929:nos. 15 and 92; Sheehan One obvious aim was to fill a gap with geographical 1998:177–8; Spangen 2005:nos. 16, 18 and 20). The information on a region that was not discussed in Norwegian neckrings are amongst the largest that Orosius’ original text. It was a matter of real impor- were made in Scandinavia (Hårdh 1996:fig. 16). Both tance to have information on the land of the North- the neckrings and the armrings seem to have been men since only a few years before Scandinavians had standardized in both form and weight (Hårdh 1996: been attacking all around England and they were 60–1 and 64–5; Sheehan 1998:178–9; see also below, now settled there in large numbers (Sindbæk 2005: 8.4). After Kaupang, the voyage continued across the 16–17). Ohthere’s travelogue unfortunately gives no wide Vik sea-lane and then along the western coast of information on how he traded his goods, and what Sweden down to Jutland and Sjælland. These areas customs and conventions were in force in the sites he were of great prominence in the 10th century, for the visited. earliest hacksilver hoards in Scandinavia appear here That Kaupang in Skiringssal was not only an (Hårdh 1996:91–2, fig. 21). In contrast to the jewellery important resting place and anchorage on the sea- hoards, the silver objects in these hoards had been route leading to and from the end of the known broken up into tiny fragments. This hacksilver was world, but also an important exchange and produc- probably measured with the aid of standardized tion site, is not stated in any written source. The sig- weighing equipment which came west with the dir- nificance of Kaupang becomes evident when we look hams (Steuer 1987:479–80, 2002:137–40, fig. 5). The at the archaeological remains (Skre 2007b:22). Right journey then came to an end at Hedeby. Here, the across the settlement area, large quantities of silver traveller from the North encountered yet another were used in dealing.

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