Vadas Ferenc (szerk.): A Wosinszky Mór Múzeum Évkönyve 15. (Szekszárd, 1990)

Handelsbeziehungen - Thomas S. Noonan: Scandinavian-Russian-Islamic trade in the ninth century

an old Norse rune inscribed on it (NOONAN, in the press A). This dirham was presumably inscribed by a Scandinavian merchant returning to the Baltic front Itil by way of the middle Volga. The Rus merchants coming from the Baltic thus followed at least three north-south routes during most of the ninth century: 1) by the Dnepr to Byzantine Cherson and Khazar Tamatarkha in the Black Sea; 2) by the Saqlabiyah river (Northern Donets?) to the Don, then by portage to the lower Volga and Itil from whence they traded along the Caspian shore and/or went to Baghdad via Jurjan; and, 3) by the middle Volga down to Itil and the Caspian and/ or Baghdad. Thus far, we have focused on Islamic trade with European Russia. But, the thousands of dirhams deposited along the Baltic coasts during the ninth century point to an active trade between European Russia and the Baltic during the ninth century. In other words, a significant part of the dirhams imported into European Russia during the ninth century were re-exported to the Baltic. The center for this part of the Scandinavian-Russian-Islamic commerce was the town of Staraia or Old Ladoga located on the left-bank of the Volkhov river a few kilometers before its entry into Lake Ladoga. Archeological excavations at Old Ladoga indicate that the town arose around the mid-eighth century and that it enjoyed constant contacts with the Baltic and Scandinavia from the 760s. Scandinavian/Baltic tools, runic inscriptions, and the presence of the only Scandinavian cemetery in all European Russia at Plakun on the opposite bank of the Volkhov from Ladoga all point to the existence of a Scandinavian element in the population of Ladoga from its earliest days. In fact, Old Ladoga quite probably arose as an emporium where merchants and adventurers from the Baltic could exchange their goods for the products available in European Russia or seek their fortune there. But, judging from the poverty of the native graves and the absence of other towns in the region, Scandinavian merchants/adventurers did not visit Ladoga primarily to trade for local goods or raid local towns. These merchants came to Ladoga in search of the silver coins being imported into European Russia from the Near East (NOONAN 1986a, 321-348). As noted above, the earliest hoard of dirhams from European Russia was deposited at Old Ladoga in the late 780s. The earliest dirham hoard from Sweden was buried at Tune in Upland in the late 780s. Its most recent dirham dated to 784/85 (Royal Coin Cabinet, Stockholm, No. 9818. I should like to thank Mr. Bengt Hovén of the Royal Coin Cabinet for allowing me to use his data on this hoard). The first dirham hoard from the south Baltic coasts comes from PrerowDarss, now in East Germany, and dates to ca. 805. Starting in the early ninth century, dirham hoards were regularly deposited in both Sweden and the southern Baltic, i.e., modern north Germany and northern Poland (HOVÉN 1982,202-219; NOONAN 1982,220-244). Thus, the export of dirhams from European Russia to the Baltic dates to the late eighth-early ninth century. The trade between Russia and Scandinavia began as soon as the first dirhams reached Russia from the Near East. European Russia's commerce with the Baltic has too often been thought of solely as a „Viking" trade. Yet, over 25,000 dirhams deposited along the lands on the southern coasts of the Baltic are now known (GAJEWSKI et al 1982, p. 16, n. 4). Furthermore, an analysis of the dirham hoards deposited between 800 and 850 snowed that far more dirhams reached the southern Baltic lands than Sweden at this time (3070 vs. 1254) (NOONAN, in the press B). Sweden only became the chief recipient of Russia's dirham exports after 850. 57