in the 850 s– 60 s and in Estonia in the first quarter of the tenth century (Berga 1988 : 27 –
9 ; Leimus 2004 ). From Estonia there are data for over c. 3 , 700 dirhams (Leimus 2007 a).
Thirty-five hoards consist of exclusively Arabic coins and there are also 1 , 521 oriental
coins from thirty-three Estonian hoards with west European denars (Molvõgin 1994 :
table 7 ). From the c. 2 , 400 dirhams from Latvia, c. 1 , 200 are from thirteen hoards
of only Arabic coins, c. 750 from hoards with west European coins and 140 from other
sites (Berga 1988 , 2005 ). In Latvia the main inflow of Arabic coins was in the first half
of the twelfth century, although they circulated up to the 1020 s and the latest occur
in the hoards buried in the 1070 s. The inflow of Kufic coins to Estonia continued up
to the turn of the millennium or a little longer (Molvõgin 1994 : 566 – 7 ; Leimus
2007 b). Judging by the frequency of scratch-marks on Kufic coins, the silver seems to
have come to Estonia in the ninth century via Sweden (Gotland), but in the tenth
century from Russia, mediated mainly by merchants trading with the Swedes (Leimus
2003 , 2004 ).
Continuous inflow of west European coins started in Estonia in the 980 s– 90 s and in
Latvia at the very end of the tenth century (Molvõgin 1994 ; Leimus and Molvõgin 2001 ;
Berga 1988 : 32 – 9 ). In Estonia the deniers replaced the formerly predominating oriental
silver in 1015 – 18 but their inflow decreased greatly about 1020 and coin hoards
are almost missing up to the 1060 s. In Latvia, however, the European deniers arrived
most intensively in the 1030 s– 60 s. From between c. 965 and 1050 the thirty-three
Estonian hoards include more than 1 , 500 coins of west European origin (Molvõgin
1994 : 565 – 74 ). Respective numbers from Latvia are smaller: ten and c. 550 only (Berga
1988 : 29 – 34 ).
The Viking Age coin hoards of Estonia and Latvia, but also of Finland, are rather
small: more than half of them consist of fewer than 100 coins and about one-third
have 101 – 500 coins. Larger hoards are not numerous and there are no finds with more
than 2 , 000 coins (Molvõgin 1994 : 580 ). In Russia the number of hoards is less but on
average they are much bigger.
Lithuania remained outside the ‘Austrvegr’ and there the number of Viking Age
silver hoards is small (Duksa 1981 ; Aleksiejun ́as 1992 ). There are data for about 300
Arabic dirhams from fourteen places (including six hoards) and only for two hoards with
west European coins. In Lithuania silver ingots were used instead of coins.
Proto-urban centresIn the Viking Age proto-urban centres emerged also in the eastern Baltic. In Grobin ̧a,
western Latvia, a Scandinavian colony was founded in about 650 and it developed into
an important centre (called urbs by Rimbert in 857 ). The large archaeological complex
of Grobin ̧a from the seventh–ninth/tenth centuries consists of cemeteries, a settlement
and a hill fort (Petrenko and Urtans 1995 ). The cemeteries (once with more than 2 , 000
grave mounds) give evidence of migrants from eastern Sweden or Gotland. In the
emergence of the colony parallels can be drawn with the Guta saga, the ancient saga of
the people of Gotland: the legend says that, due to overpopulation, one-third of the
island’s inhabitants left first for Dagö (Hiiumaa) island, then moved along the Daugava
River to Russia and further on to Greece/Byzantium.
The main proto-urban trade and handicraft centre at the Daugava waterway was
Daugmale hill fort of a polyethnic background in the contact zone of the Livs and the
–– Heiki Valk––