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Early medieval slave‐trading in the archaeological record: comparative methodologies
Author(s) -
Fontaine Janel M.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
early medieval europe
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.1
H-Index - 24
eISSN - 1468-0254
pISSN - 0963-9462
DOI - 10.1111/emed.12228
Subject(s) - eleventh , currency , context (archaeology) , human settlement , history , archaeology , archaeological evidence , period (music) , ancient history , economy , geography , economics , art , physics , acoustics , monetary economics , aesthetics
Efforts to identify archaeological indicators of slave‐trading have highlighted four main criteria: shackles, fortified settlements, currency, and burials. However, little effort has been made to examine these indicators together for the early medieval period. By comparing finds, studies, and methodologies from the two major slave‐trading regions of Britain and Ireland and Slavic east central Europe, it becomes clear that these so‐called ‘indicators’ for slave‐trading are inconclusive, and textually attested slave‐trading can remain archaeologically invisible. To better understand slave‐trading in the seventh to eleventh centuries, historians and archaeologists should instead focus on its context within general trade.