This development is mirrored in changes in weighing equipment. The earliest
Viking Age weights were rather imprecise and many local standards seem to have
existed. Their shape and material, cylindrical lead weights dominating, made them easy
to tamper with, which did not promote trust between trading partners. Around 860 / 70
a new type and standard of much more reliable bronze weights were introduced in
southern and eastern Scandinavia. One would expect that the increased trustworthiness
of weights facilitated trade and contributed to the strong growth in exchange where
silver was used as a means of payment (Steuer 1997 ; Gustin 2004 ).
The need for a trusted means of payment was one of the reasons for the shift to
coinage in the final decades of the Viking Age. The trust in the king as a ruler and
peacekeeper was extended into the economic sphere and made operational there. One
may say that the development in the means of exchange from local weight systems to
royal coinage mirrors the fundamental changes that took place in the Scandinavian
societies during the Viking Age. The towns were important arenas for the economic,
social and political driving forces in this development.
BIBLIOGRAPHYAndrén, A. ( 1989 ) ‘State and towns in the Middle Ages: the Scandinavian experience’, Theory and
Society, 18 : 585 – 609.
Callmer, J. ( 1994 ) ‘Urbanization in Scandinavia and the Baltic region c. ad 700 – 1100 : trading
places, centres and early urban sites’, in B. Ambrosiani and H. Clark (eds) Development around
the Baltic and the North Sea in the Viking Age (Birka Studies 3 ), Stockholm: Birka Project, Raä
and Statens historiska museum.
——( 1995 ) ‘Hantverksproduktion, samhällsförändringar och bebyggelse. Iakttagelser från östra
Sydskandinavien ca. 600 – 1100 e.Kr’, in H. Gjøstein Resi (ed.) Produksjon og samfunn. Om
erverv, spesialisering og bosetning i Norden i 1. årtusen e.Kr. (Universitetets Oldsaksamling Varia
30 ), Oslo: Universitetets Oldsaksamling.
Carlsson, D. ( 1991 ) ‘Harbours and trading places on Gotland ad 600 – 1000 ’, in O. Crumlin
Pedersen (ed.) Aspects of Maritime Scandinavia ad 200 – 1200 , Roskilde: Vikingeskibshallen.
Clarke, H. and Ambrosiani, B. ( 1995 ) Towns in the Viking Age, 2 nd rev. edn, London and New
York: Leicester University Press.
Feveile, C. (ed.) ( 2006 ) Det ældste Ribe. Udgravninger på nordsiden af Ribe Å 1984 – 2000 (Ribe
Studier 1 : 1 ), Højbjerg: Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab.
Gustin, I. ( 2004 ) Mellan gåva och marknad. Handel, tillit och materiell kultur under vikingatid
(Lund Studies in Medieval Archaeology 34 ), Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell.
Hagland, J.R. and Sandnes, J. ( 1997 ) Bjarkøyretten. Nidaros eldste bylov, Oslo: Det Norske
Samlaget.
Hårdh, B. ( 1996 ) Silver in the Viking Age. A Regional-economic Study (Acta Archaeologica Lundensia
25 ), Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell.
Jensen, J. ( 2004 ) Danmarks Oldtid, [vol. 4 ]: Yngre Jernalder og Vikingetid 400 e.Kr– 1050 e.Kr.,
Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
Nielsen, P.O., Randsborg, K. and Thrane, H. (eds) ( 1994 ) The Archaeology of Gudme and Lundeborg.
Papers Presented at a Conference at Svendborg, October 1991 (Arkæologiske Studier 10 ),
Copenhagen: Akademisk forlag.
Palliser, D.M. (ed.) ( 2000 ) The Cambridge Urban History of Britain, vol. 1 : 600 – 1540. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Pilø, L. ( 2007 ) ‘The settlement: character, structures and features’, in D. Skre (ed.) 2007 a.
–– Dagfinn Skre––