An analysis of the series X or wodan monster sceattas : some implications for trade and exchange in the 8th century AD.

The work of the historian Henri Pirenne in the early
years of this century sparked a debate concerning the
nature and extent of trade and exchange in Early
Medieval Europe which still reverberates today. The
paucity of the historical evidence for the period soon
led to the use of numismatic evidence although this too
was used to argue opposing views. The archaeological
evidence for trade and the development of towns in Early
Medieval Europe has increased enormously in the last
forty years. Archaeologists were also increasingly aware
of the work of economic anthropologists who believed in
the different character of 'the econcomy'
capitalist societies and its importance in the social
system as a whole. These concerns were first brought to
the study of the Early Medieval economy by Grierson but
more recently Hodges has developed a model of which sees
trade as a major factor in the development and changing
nature of society in this period. Numismatic evidence
has been widely used by all concerned with these
problems. Yet the major source of numismatic
information for the 8th century has never been studied
in detail. A number of large hoards of 8th century
coins, the sceatta series of coinages, were found in the
Low Countries in the 19th century, to date none of these
hoards have been analysed in detail or published. It is
the aim of this thesis to analyse in detail one of the
series of sceattas, series X, and to attempt to relate
the results of this analysis to the specific and more
general
coinage.