Artykuły w czasopismach na temat „British Silver coins”

The analysis of some of the Indian silver coins during British rule were analysed by Energy Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence Technique. Eight elements namely Cr , Fe , Ni , Cu , Zn , As , Ag and Pb were estimated in this study which also seems to indicate the fragmentation as well as the impoverishment of the power for the regimes that had produced the studied coins. While Cu and Ag were present as major elements, other elements were found to be present in minor concentration.

AbstractA hoard of objects found at the early Roman colony at Colchester in a small hole scraped into the floor of a house destroyed during the Boudican revolt includes a group of high-quality gold jewellery, three silver military awards, a bag of coins, an unusual silver-clad wooden box and other items. Buried in haste as the British approached, they provide a remarkably clear image of one couple's background, achievements, taste and social standing. Abullashows that the man was a Roman citizen, the awards that he was a veteran soldier of some distinction, while parallels for the woman's jewellery suggest that it was acquired in Italy.

This article examines the special use of tobacco warehouse receipts as a store of value, medium of exchange and unit of account in Virginia during part of the British Colonial period. These receipts met the three criteria necessary for them to be a type of money. When confidence in a system of currency with coins is present, this more conventional form of money takes precedence. A respected economic form of currency with coins has all three elements of money: medium of exchange, store of value and unit of account. Tobacco warehouse receipts were used as a form of money in Colonial Virginia. They were used since there was insufficient gold or silver for the commerce in British Colonial Virginia at that time. Also, the concept of store of value is examined in detail.

This article revisits a locus classicus of British Catholic History, the interpretation of the coin-hoard found in 1611 by the Lancashire squire William Blundell of Little Crosby.1 This article offers new information, approaching the Harkirk silver from several perspectives: Mark Blundell offers a memoir of his ancestor William Blundell, as well as lending his voice to the account of the subsequent fate of the Harkirk silver; Professor Jane Stevenson and Professor Peter Davidson reconsider the sources for William Blundell’s historiography as well as considering wider questions of memory and the recusant community; Dr Dora Thornton analyses the silver pyx made from the Harkirk coins in detail, and surveys analogous silverwork in depth.

AbstractThe Japanese Imperial Mint, which began its operation producing gold and silver coins in Osaka in 1871, has come to represent the self-modernisation of Japanese architecture and society more generally, both in its industrial purpose and western classical style. This article focuses on the planning, construction and socio-spatial design of the mint to resituate the project in the context of British imperial expansion. New archival research in both Japan and Britain, enabling close analysis of overlooked drawings and documents, establishes the Japanese Imperial Mint's dependence on the transfer of men, machinery and plans from the former Hong Kong Mint, mediated and managed by the two firms Glover & Co and Jardine Matheson & Co. This article thus not only sheds new light on these two individually important buildings in colonial and imperial history, and the engineers involved, but illuminates the relationship between British colonial architecture and the activities of British merchants at the edge of empire in East Asia in the nineteenth century.

A group of Roman silver denarii minted prior to 194 A.D., and imitations of them, said to have been “Dug up in Ukraine,” appeared on the U.S. market in 2018. The goal of this paper is to discuss finds of Roman denarii in Ukraine briefly, to record four examples from this otherwise unpublished find, and to place these pieces in the context of currency in Ukraine in Late Antiquity. European Barbaricum – the areas lying outside the Roman Rhine, Danubian and British limites in the end of the Second Century A.D., to the Volga River in the east, including inland Ukraine but not including the Caucasus region and the Black Sea coast – used Roman silver denarii as currency, though probably merely by weight; over 500 denarii hoards from this area have been published, of which 95 were from Ukraine. There is evidence that these coins circulated for a century or more after they became obsolete in the Roman Empire itself, because of the heavy wear present on many examples. Though the size and location of the find which surfaced in 2018 – and whether it represents a hoard or single finds – cannot be determined, from the number seen (10 to 15), it is more likely to have been a hoard rather than a series of single finds. (Because of the manner in which the coins were sold, it was not possible to contact the seller readily; also, it was doubted that truthful information would be obtained anyhow, since the coins were presumably removed from Ukraine illegally.) Four examples preserved from it are published herein. These are: Denarius of Sabina, 128–136, very worn (2.62 g vs. normal weight of 3.0–3.2 g). Diademed bust right/Juno standing left (C 37, RIC II Hadrian 395A). Denarius of Antoninus Pius, 143/4, very worn (3.02 g) and apparently a fourrée, with base metal showing at top of head. Laureate head right/caduceus between two cornucopiae (RIC III, 107B). Struck copy (fourrée?) of denarius of Commodus, 190, very worn (1.82 g [sic!]). Laureate head right/Minerva advancing right (RIC III Commodus 222A). The surface is two-tone, as if plating is coming off, or dissolved silver from burial was redeposited. Struck copy (fourrée?) of denarius of Antoninus Pius – Commodus, 138–192, very worn (1.67 g [sic!]). Laureate head right/Ceres (?) standing left, pseudo? inscriptions. On this coin also it appears that silver plating is coming off, or dissolved silver from burial was redeposited. The presence of imitation denarii is not unexpected, because 15 of the recorded 95 denarii hoards found in Ukraine contained them. However, the very light weight of these two examples is unusual, and may indicate that a base metal core dissolved from acidic soils, leaving only a thick silver plating. Nearly all denarii hoards from European Barbaricum close with those of Commodus, 192 A. D.; from 148, the denarius maintained a standard of approximately 75–80% silver, but Septimius Severus reduced the standard to about 65% in 194, and to about 56% two years later. At this point most “Barbarians” refused to accept them as silver, and later denarii are nearly always absent from hoards. The same pattern can be seen in this group. These pieces offer further evidence that Roman denarii circulated (as silver, by weight) in Ukraine long after issue, some becoming very worn. Their dating is given as circa 200–400 A. D., though this is very approximate. No attempt is made here to assign them to a particular ethnic group.

Prior to the British conquest of Northern Nigeria in 1903, to which the former Sokoto Province area of Nigeria belonged, the region had an organised economy consisting of an agricultural system that produced not only foodstuffs but also raw materials and supplies for industries and international trade. There were systems of markets, taxation, credit, as well as local and long distance trade. There were also many kinds of currencies used as medium of exchange. The currencies are being referred to differently by various scholars. Some of the names given to them include: ‘commodity’, ‘trade’, ‘traditional’ or ‘local’ currencies. They include slaves, cloths, cowries, manilla, iron rods, silver, gold, Maria Theresa dollars, etc. Some of them had very limited areas in which they were used as currency while others were used over a vast area. Moreover, some of them such as slaves and cloth were locally sourced and had other uses than serving as currency. Others like cowries and silver dollars were obtained from far places such as Maldives Island in the Indian Ocean and various European and American countries respectively. However, when colonial rule was imposed on Africans, the colonial powers regarded the pre-colonial currencies not only as inefficient but also pernicious and then replaced them with colonial currencies. The colonial currencies were actually more portable, easily convertible and universally acceptable compared to the pre-colonial currencies. Thus, the British considered the pre-colonial currencies of the Nigerian area as ‘cumbersome’, which would not allow for international trade and incorporation of the country’s economy into that of the British capitalist economy. Consequently, the British coins were introduced and gradually they replaced the pre-colonial currencies as the only medium of exchange. This paper, therefore, examines the history of transition from the use of commodity to colonial currencies as media of exchange in the former Sokoto Province of Nigeria during the pre-colonial and colonial periods. Historical research methodology, through the use of primary and secondary sources, were employed to write the paper.

This article studies the peculiarities of the monetary policy of English king Henry V in the territories of the Kingdom of France occupied by him between 1415 and 1422. The purpose of the study is to establish its influence on the state of finance in France and, first of all, on the sharp depreciation of silver money following the defeat. Within the framework of English politics, two stages can be clearly traced: the first one lasted from 1415 to 1420, when monetary policy was indirect in nature, influencing the French economy by the fact of conquest and becoming an additional factor in the aggravation of the domestic political struggle, and the other one lasted from 1420 to 1422 and was connected with the intention of Henry V as regent of the Kingdom of France, to bring the financial system into relative order. The author refers to French and English chronicles, The Diary of a Parisian Citizen, as well as the ordinances of the kings of France, which reflected the peculiarities of the monetary policy, more particularly, changes in the exchange rate and weight of silver coins and attempts to carry out reforms. The study carried out makes it possible to find out that the depreciation of the French silver coin was associated with the beginning of the British conquest of Normandy and the transfer of mints located there. A sharp drop in the money rate occurred after the transfer of Paris into the hands of the Burgundians and the formation in the fall of 1418 of an independent financial administration in the south of France under the control of the dauphin. On the contrary, some stabilisation followed the conclusion of the Treaty of Troyes, and the General States adopted a course towards reforms in December 1420. The author determines the stages of the reform and the reasons for its delay. These include: the lack of control over all the mints of the kingdom, the lack of coin metal and the required number of qualified personnel. Finally, the premature death of Henry V in the summer of 1422 did not allow the completion of the monetary reform.

Detector finds and settlement – The Eastern Limfjord in Late Iron Age and Viking timesDuring the past 30 years Danish fields have formed the backdrop for a silent revolution. Since the appearance of the metal detector in the 1970s, detector enthusiasts have succeeded in increasing dramatically the number of finds and known archaeological sites, especially from the Late Iron Age and Early Medieval period. This growth in the archaeological record has, among other things, led to a new understanding of settlement patterns and the general development of society.Despite scepticism in the beginning, and a few misleading incidents involving illegal use of metal detectors, the liberal Danish legislation concerning the private use of metal detectors must therefore be termed “a success”.This has indeed also been the case in Northern Jutland, around the Limfjord. Since the very beginning of the detector adventure the Aalborg area has yielded more new finds year on year than most other areas of Denmark, being only surpassed by Bornholm and Southeast Funen. However, despite the results they have amassed, the efforts of Northern Jutland’s detectorists do not seem to have been appreciated, and co-operation with the detectorists has not increased and improved in the manner seen in Southeastern Denmark.The many detector finds from along the Limfjord have, of course, received some attention from Danish archaeologists. ­Esp­ecially so after excavations were carried out at a couple of the major sites, Sebbersund and Bejsebakken. However, a num­ber of other sites have not yet received the same attention, even though they have yielded, and continue to yield, a substantial number of detector finds. These sites have been overlooked both in the field and in the archaeological literature. This article is an attempt to improve on the latter situation. It offers a presentation of the finds recovered so far and a preliminary analysis of the material.The material recovered by detector from the region contains a great number of single stray finds. However, several sites clearly orientated towards the coasts of the Limfjord are characterised by much richer find assemblages (fig. 1). These sites are the main subject of this article, with particular focus on Late Iron Age material.In general, the detector sites seem all to represent settlements, but when trying to analyse the detector finds and sites we are still faced with some fundamental questions. For example, it is obvious today that there is remarkably poor correlation bet­ween the overall distribution of metal obj­ects and the settlement structures on the sites.Thanks to the detectorists it is now possible to draw a fairly credible picture of the Late Iron Age settlement pattern around the Eastern Limfjord. This picture shows a remarkably dense concentration of rich settlements in a generally densely populated coastal zone. However, when compared to the areas rich in detector finds in the southeastern part of Denmark and Scania, this picture reveals one remarkable difference: the lack of a main centre.The landscape and the sitesApart from drainage of low-lying meadows and a few shallow areas along the coast, the landscape alongside the Eastern Limfjord in the Late Iron Age resembled that of the present day. The eastern part of the Limfjord formed a narrow, winding channel, and both the northern and the southern coast consisted of wide foreshores, replaced a little further inland by moraine hills. The hills stood isolated from each other and the mainland by small rivers and low-lying, wet meadows which were flooded by the sea in the Stone Age. Øland and Gjøl actually remained islands until the 19th century when farmers succeeded in draining the shallow waters between the hills and the mainland.North of the fjord, the lowlands behind the hills continued for several kilometres. South of the fjord, these wet meadows were, after a few hundred metres, typically replaced by a hilly landscape dissected by river valleys.Further to the west, the fjord at that time apparently offered two different sailing routes in and out: one to the west and a one to the northwest, through the Sløjenkanal.The latter has completely disappeared today and investigations suggest that the mouth of this channel silted up during the 1st century AD. However, place names, historical records and archaeological finds indicate that the channel still played an import role during the Viking Age. Most likely the ships where simply carried over the sand bank at its mouth.The rich detector sites dealt with in this article are Øland, Gjøl, Lindholm Høje, Humlebakken, Postgården, Thulebakken, Bejsebakken, Sofiendal/Gammel Hasseris, Nørholm, Mellemholm and Sebbersund. All but one are located on the top of the distinctive moraine hills along the Limfjord, lying typically between 1 and 3 km from the actual coast. In contrast to the other sites, Sebbersund is located on a small pen­insula directly on the coast of the Limfjord, by the entrance to a small lagoon.The extent to which the sites have been subjected to archaeological investigation varies considerably. Extensive excavations have been carried out at Lindholm Høje, Sebbersund, Postgården and Bejsebakken. The latter has been almost totally excavated.Minor excavations have been carried out at Humlebakken, Thulebakken and Sofiendal/Gammel Hasseris – whereas the history of Øland, Gjøl, Mellemholm and Nørholm is characterised by an almost total lack of archaeological activity, apart from the topsoil surveys performed by the detectorists.The metal finds – chronological tendenciesSince the only properly registered detector finds from the sites on the Eastern Limfjord are those designated as treasure trove, only these finds are included in this analysis. However, changing criteria for the designation of treasure trove have clearly affected the composition of the find material in question. The increasing number of detector finds has forced the National Museum to tighten up the designation criteria. This has led to the situation where many finds which previously were declared as treasure trove are now returned to local museums and the finders (fig. 4). Consequently, fewer finds from the more recently discovered detector sites have been declared treasure trove, making comparison with the finds from “older” sites very difficult.Bronze brooches constitute by far the greatest part of the material chosen for this study. Out of 709 finds, 478 are brooches – corresponding to 67.5 %. The earlier detector finds available show little typological variation, whereas variation clearly increases in finds from the later part of Late Iron Age and, especially, the Viking Age, from which there is a wide range of metal artefacts (fig. 5).In order to compare the chronological composition of the material from the different sites, I have produced a series of diagrams based on the number and dating of the brooches from each site (fig. 6.). With a few exceptions, the diagrams give an impression of marked continuity in the flow of metal objects at the sites and, in most cases, an increasing circulation of metal objects during the Late Iron Age, reaching a peak in the Late Germanic Iron Age. However, this peak is somewhat artificial since it is mainly due to the fact that only brooches have been included in the analysis. Had the entire range of finds been included, this would have shown that circulation of metals continued to grow through­­­out the Viking Age.Øland, Gjøl and Sebbersund do not fit this picture of continuity. The detector finds from these sites consist, almost exclusively, of objects from the Late Germanic Iron Age and Viking Age. However, Øland and Gjøl belong to the most recently discovered detector sites and the finds from them can hardly be expected to give a fully representative picture of the metal objects present in the soil here.In contrast, Sebbersund is a well-known “old” site and a similar, but more thorough, analysis of the brooches from the site, including the ones recovered during excavations, has produced the very same result. Activities at Sebbersund seem, therefore, to have been very limited in the Germanic Iron Age, before blossoming in the Viking Age and then ceasing almost completely around AD 1100.Furthermore, on the topic of continuity, the finds from all the rich detector sites on the Eastern Limfjord also include various amounts of medieval artefacts and, in most cases, early medieval churches or monasteries are located nearby. Activities on these sites carried on well into the medieval period.The distribution of the finds – size and structure of the sitesHalf of the rich detector sites on the Eastern Limfjord have been subjected to excavation and in all cases settlement remains were revealed. Similar excavations in other parts of Denmark have shown the same pattern and it seems safe to assume that the metal items present in the topsoil at the rich detector sites analysed in this article are the result of settlement remains under degradation.Furthermore, since cremation graves were the dominant burial type during a major part of Late Iron Age in Northern Jutland, one would expect to find a large number of fire-damaged metal objects among the detector finds if these originated from burial sites. This is not the case.The quality of the information on find site varies greatly from find to find and the recorded geographical information presents little opportunity for inferences to be made concerning the structure of each site. However, the overall distribution of the finds clearly poses an interesting problem. On all of the rich sites, with the exception of Sebbersund, the metal objects lie scattered over huge areas. These are far greater than those which can be expected to conceal traces of prehistoric settlement. The detector site on Nørholm hill is the largest so far, covering approximately 400 acres.The Bejsebakken case underlines the phenomenon; this settlement has been almost totally excavated. If the extent of the settlement is compared with the distribution of detector finds from the hill it is obvious that there is a concentration of metal objects recovered from the topsoil above the remains of the settlement, but it is equally clear that a considerable number of finds have been detected outside this area (fig. 7).The large number of metal objects found outside the area with archaeological remains of the settlement probably reflects some sort of adjacent activity area connected to the farmsteads on the top of the hill. However, the area in question covers several acres. In my opinion it seems most likely that the surprisingly wide distribution of the metal objects is due to the use of settlement waste as manure on the fields in the vicinity of the farmsteads.A wide distribution of the detector finds is, incidentally, a very common phenomenon. Along with a similar topographic setting, this feature is shared by almost all the large detector sites on the Eastern Lim­fjord. It therefore seems likely that agriculture played an important role in the economy of these settlements.Only the settlement at Sebbersund does not conform to this picture. In contrast to the other sites, the detector finds here seem to be concentrated within an extremely limited area. This situation, however, corresponds well with the excavation results from the 1980s which led to the interpretation of the settlement structures as remains of a trading place without traces of any ordinary agrarian settlement.Crafts and TradeObviously, only a very limited number of the activities which took place at the Iron Age settlements can be revealed by the use of metal detectors. However, a few of the metal objects indicate the presence of metal crafts and trade.Generally, the direct indicators of trade are sparse. Means of payment such as coins and pieces of silver are rare and only Sebbersund has yielded a significant number of balance weights. Furthermore, all of the finds belonging to this category are from the Viking Age. However, a substantial number of foreign metal objects clearly point to the fact that the sites on the Lim­fjord were part of a far-reaching communication network (figs. 8 and 9). Excavations at several of the sites have also recovered various imported goods, and trade must have been a common phenomenon.The imported finds seem to reflect a contact network which evolved through time. In the Germanic Iron Age, the network seems mainly to have covered the rest of Scandinavia, whereas the British Isles and the northwestern part of Continental Europe, especially the area around the mouth of the Rhine, were clearly also included in the Viking Age. However, not only the direction of the traffic seems to have evolved. When looking at the number and character of the objects found on the sites, it seems obvious that the traffic increased in the course of the Late Iron Age and that trade in bulk goods began and expanded through the Viking age.Crafts are generally poorly represented in the detector finds. A few items, such as raw materials in the form of small pieces of gold and silver, half-finished brooches, a matrix for the production of bracteates and three identical brooches at one site, indicates the in situ production of jewellery at the sites. This conclusion is also supported by the fact that several types of brooches and some ornamental elements exclusively or mainly occur on the Eastern Limfjord.As could be expected, a much broader spectrum of crafts has been demonstrated through excavations at some of the sites and, apart from showing the traditional variation of crafts, the excavation results generally seem to demonstrate a marked focus on the production of textiles. At Sebbersund and Bejsebakken the number of pit-houses exceeds several hundreds and the majority of these were clearly used for the production of textiles. This production must definitely have exceeded what could possibly have been needed loc­ally.Regional settlement pattern and interpretation of the rich sitesAt present, it is only possible to draw a fairly credible picture of the Late Iron Age settlement pattern on the Eastern Lim­fjord by including the considerable number of single detector finds from the region. On this basis, the area seems to have been quite densely populated with a series of richer settlements along the coasts of the fjord (fig. 11).The lack of inland settlements equally rich in metal finds seems to indicate that the coast-near settlements on the fjord served, in some respects, as central places relative to the settlements further inland.It is obvious that the circulation of metal objects varied considerably from settlement to settlement and from period to per­iod. Despite these variations, none of the detector sites has so far yielded an assemblage which allows us to assign any of the settlements to a position elevated markedly above the others in the settlement system for the region. However, the considerable variation in the number of finds from the different sites clearly points to the fact that some settlements were more successful than others. This seems to have been very much the case on the Nørholm and the Bejsebakken hills, especially in the Late Germanic Iron Age, during which the circulation of metal objects here accelerated markedly relative to the other sites.The lack of a pronounced main centre in a generally wealthy region stands in remarkable contrast to contemporary settlement patterns known from the southeastern part of Denmark and Scania. These latter areas were apparently characterised by a society of a much more hierarchical nature and by settlement patterns including easily recognisable centres mainly characterised by extreme concentrations of rich gold and silver finds along with the presence of unusual imports.The development of a highly stratified society seems, therefore, to have proceeded at a somewhat slower pace in the Lim­fjord region. Together with the growing importance of the Limfjord for communication, this led to the characteristic settlement pattern which included a large number of settlements of centre-like character located along the coasts of the eastern part of the fjord in the Late Iron Age.Torben Trier ChristiansenAalborg Historiske Museum

During the first half of the nineteenth century, tea became an essential commodity in the Kyakhta trade, accounting for over 90 % of total imports. Russia increased tea imports to address its growing demand for tea. The country handled the increasing tea imports by simultaneously increasing the exports of fur, wool, and cotton. British trade with China in Guangzhou was for smuggled opium in exchange for tea. When the Qing dynasty attempted to eradicate opium trade, the UK waged two wars and legalised the opium trade. The UK’s illegal opium trade and military provocations had a significant impact on China’s politics, economy, and society, as well as a decisive impact on the decline of the Kyakhta trade. Opium, which was banned, became a monopoly product for the British, and Russia’s export products — except for silver — could not compete with opium. The UK’s illegal sale of opium increased China’s opium consumption. Consequently, this reduced the purchasing power of the Chinese, worsening the sales conditions of Russian export products. In the end, the opium trade led to a shortage of silver and an increase in the value of silver coins in China. Chinese merchants preferred silver or silver coins to other products when trading with Russia. As a result, the Russian government approved the exchange of silver, effectively ending barter trade throughout Kyakhta.

ABSTRACTRoman Coinage suffered from severe debasement during the 3rd century AD. By 250 AD., the production of complex copper alloy (Cu-Sn-Pb-Ag) coins with a silvered surface, became common practice. The same method continued to be applied during the 4th century AD for the production of a new denomination introduced by Diocletian in 293/4 AD. Previous analyses of these coins did not solve key technological issues and in particular, the silvering process. The British Museum kindly allowed further research at Bradford to examine coins from Cope's Archive in more detail, utilizing XRF, SEM-EDS metallography, LA-ICP-MS and EPMA. Metallographic and SEM examination of 128 coins, revealed that the silver layer was very difficult to trace because its thickness was a few microns and in some cases it was present under the corrosion layer. Results derived from the LA-ICP-MS and EPMA analyses have demonstrated, for the first time, the presence of Hg in the surface layers of these coins. A review of ancient sources and historic literature indicated possible methods which might have been used for the production of the plating. A programme of plating experiments was undertaken to examine a number of variables in the process, such as amalgam preparation, and heating cycles. Results from the experimental work are presented.

The Fæsted iron shackleEvidence of the slave trade between Barbaricum and the Roman Empire? In 2018-19, Sønderskov Museum excavated the remains of a multi-phase Iron Age hall at Stavsager Høj, north of the village of Fæsted in southern Jutland (fig. 1). Fæsted and the nearby village of Harreby are thought to have been the site of a pre-Christian cultic centre during the Iron Age and Viking Age, similar to well-known localities such as Tissø and Lejre on Zealand and Uppåkra in Scania. Like Scandinavia’s other central places, Fæsted’s environs are characterised by rich and extraordinary archaeological finds. These include large amounts of gold and silver and, in the case of the Iron Age, also relatively large quantities of continental imports such as Roman bronze artefacts, drinking glasses and silver coins. A remarkable discovery in 2018 constituted four depositions, two of weapons and two of gold, in two pairs of postholes for roof-bearing posts in the western half of a multi-phase longhouse. Moreover, the eastern half of the longhouse yielded metal finds which, after conservation, must be seen as being at least as interesting as these depositions, with a well-preserved iron shackle attracting particular attention (fig. 2). The longhouse, which, in the light of its robust character and the finds it yielded, is interpreted as a hall or temple (fig. 3), encompassed as many as eight construction phases, all dating from the Roman Iron Age and the beginning of the Early Germanic Iron Age. The shackle derives from a later phase in this sequence.The shackle is made up of four separate parts, all made from iron rod with a round cross-section; a large central, complex, composite hoop and three elongate chain links that only vary slightly innermost (figs. 2 & 5). One link is solely attached to an eye in the hoop. It is 68 mm long and has a maximum width of 41 mm – both measured externally. The link is obviously worn, as the iron is clearly thinner at its ends. The opposing eye on the composite hoop has two chain links attached in continuation of one another. The outer link is more elongated than the inner one; they measure 29 x 31 mm and 65 x 44 mm, respectively. Consequently, the inner link appears thicker than the outer ones, but it is unclear to what degree this is due to corrosion. Both links attached to an eye on the hoop are slightly bent, possibly because they have been subjected to tension, twisting and pressure over a longer period. Common to all three links is that they appear to have been welded shut. The central, composite hoop appears to be made up of three bars, which have been welded together, bent into an approximate horseshoe shape and then laid on top of each other. The hoop is c. 98 mm wide externally and c. 76 mm internally. At the two proximal eyes, the otherwise flat-forged iron divides into three separate pieces, which then run parallel around the outside. They appear to have been twisted (fig. 6), which has increased their strength. Even though an attempt was made to reinforce the hoop with the three external, twisted rods, metallurgical analyses of its structure show that it was also necessary to deal the hoop some heavy blows with a hammer, and this must have been done without first heating the iron. Moreover, the conservation process revealed evidence that the shackle was rather worn (fig. 7) when it ended up at the bottom of the posthole (fig. 4). The internal transverse dimension of the Fæsted shackle suggests that it would have been applicable to a human wrist or slender ankle, although it is also possible that it may have been used for animals. It would not have been suitable for use on the necks of either humans or animals.This is one of the first potential slave shackles found outside the Roman Empire. To date, only one locality in Barbaricum is known to have yielded a similar example. Based on the comparable archaeological material, it seems likely that the Fæsted shackle belongs to Hugh Thompson’s type, which is known particularly from present-day France, Germany and the British Isles. The iron used for the Fæsted shackle has been identified as having been made in England, which concurs with the distribution of this shackle type. The type is considered to date from the Late Roman Iron Age.So far, only a few examples of slave shackles from this period have been recorded north of Limes, with the exception of those found at Roman forts situated on this border. In 2011, there were records of 114 shackles from the northern Roman provinces, but from widely differing contexts. Analyses of the distribution of shackles from the Roman Iron Age (fig. 8) have led to the suggestion that they reveal the locations of the most important slave markets in the Roman Empire, and a clear concurrence has been demonstrated between Roman villas, towns and military camps and the incidence of slave shackles. Given this conclusion, it can be argued that Fæsted was a Scandinavian centre for the Iron Age slave trade.There has been little discussion of the use of shackles with respect to the finds from the Roman period. Unequivocal evidence that the find from Fæsted constitutes a prisoner or slave shackle is, however, provided by an article published by Chris Chinnock and Michael Marshall in Britannia 2021, which addresses the use of shackles of, the type to which the Fæsted shackle belongs. This relates to the excavation of an atypical burial at Great Casterton, Rutland, England in 2015 (fig. 9). The deceased had been placed somewhat carelessly in the burial pit and a set of iron shackles of the same type as described here were found around their ankles. These appeared, however, to constitute a complete set, which it is reasonable to assume the Fæsted example was also a part of. The grave could be 14C-dated to AD 226-427, making the burial approximately coeval with the Fæsted shackle. The burial at Great Casterton is interpreted as being that of a Roman slave.An extremely diverse range of Roman imports was found at Fæsted, which testifies to interaction via a highly ramified network of contacts. The clearest indication of trade appears to be the occurrence of Roman denarii (fig. 10). Also found at the locality were three fragments of scrap bronze, interpreted as pieces of draped cloth from a rather large figurine. No less interesting are the large numbers of glass shards, derived from imported drinking glasses. The locality clearly encompasses an extraordinary finds assemblage – especially when viewed in the light of other coeval localities in southern Jutland, where no other settlements with a comparable assemblage of artefacts have yet been found. Only the well-known Dankirke site has a finds assemblage of a similar typological composition.The iron shackle is the latest in a series of spectacular finds from Stavsager Høj which testify to a highly developed network involving both the ‘civilised’ Roman Empire and the barbarians to the north. Very little is known about the circumstances of slaves or thralls during the Nordic Iron Age, but this group is relatively well investigated in Roman archaeology and history. Were these individuals Scandinavians who were sold out of the country as slaves – perhaps prisoners of war – or were slaves brought to Scandinavia from the British slave markets? This question cannot be answered unequivocally based on the discovery of a single artefact, but the Fæsted shackle does makes an important contribution to the discussion about the slave trade between Barbaricum and Rome.