Whalebone Gaming Pieces: Aspects of Marine Mammal Exploitation in Vendel and Viking Age Scandinavia
Discussions of pre-Viking trade and production have for many decades focused on products made of precious metals, glass and, to some degree, iron. This is hardly surprising considering the difficulties in finding and provenancing products made of organic matter. In this article we examine gaming pie...
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Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press (CUP)
2018
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2018.15 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S1461957118000153 |
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/eaa.2018.15 2024-05-19T07:44:59+00:00 Whalebone Gaming Pieces: Aspects of Marine Mammal Exploitation in Vendel and Viking Age Scandinavia Hennius, Andreas Gustavsson, Rudolf Ljungkvist, John Spindler, Luke 2018 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2018.15 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S1461957118000153 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ European Journal of Archaeology volume 21, issue 4, page 612-631 ISSN 1461-9571 1741-2722 journal-article 2018 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2018.15 2024-04-25T06:51:47Z Discussions of pre-Viking trade and production have for many decades focused on products made of precious metals, glass and, to some degree, iron. This is hardly surprising considering the difficulties in finding and provenancing products made of organic matter. In this article we examine gaming pieces made from bone and antler, which are not unusual in Scandinavian burials in the Vendel and Viking period (c. ad 550–1050). A special emphasis is placed on whalebone pieces that appear to dominate after around ad 550, signalling a large-scale production and exploitation of North Atlantic whale products. In combination with other goods such as bear furs, birds of prey, and an increased iron and tar production, whalebone products are part of an intensified large-scale outland exploitation and indicate strong, pre-urban trading routes across Scandinavia and Europe some 200 years before the Viking period and well before the age of the emporia. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic Cambridge University Press European Journal of Archaeology 21 4 612 631 |
institution |
Open Polar |
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Cambridge University Press |
op_collection_id |
crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
description |
Discussions of pre-Viking trade and production have for many decades focused on products made of precious metals, glass and, to some degree, iron. This is hardly surprising considering the difficulties in finding and provenancing products made of organic matter. In this article we examine gaming pieces made from bone and antler, which are not unusual in Scandinavian burials in the Vendel and Viking period (c. ad 550–1050). A special emphasis is placed on whalebone pieces that appear to dominate after around ad 550, signalling a large-scale production and exploitation of North Atlantic whale products. In combination with other goods such as bear furs, birds of prey, and an increased iron and tar production, whalebone products are part of an intensified large-scale outland exploitation and indicate strong, pre-urban trading routes across Scandinavia and Europe some 200 years before the Viking period and well before the age of the emporia. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Hennius, Andreas Gustavsson, Rudolf Ljungkvist, John Spindler, Luke |
spellingShingle |
Hennius, Andreas Gustavsson, Rudolf Ljungkvist, John Spindler, Luke Whalebone Gaming Pieces: Aspects of Marine Mammal Exploitation in Vendel and Viking Age Scandinavia |
author_facet |
Hennius, Andreas Gustavsson, Rudolf Ljungkvist, John Spindler, Luke |
author_sort |
Hennius, Andreas |
title |
Whalebone Gaming Pieces: Aspects of Marine Mammal Exploitation in Vendel and Viking Age Scandinavia |
title_short |
Whalebone Gaming Pieces: Aspects of Marine Mammal Exploitation in Vendel and Viking Age Scandinavia |
title_full |
Whalebone Gaming Pieces: Aspects of Marine Mammal Exploitation in Vendel and Viking Age Scandinavia |
title_fullStr |
Whalebone Gaming Pieces: Aspects of Marine Mammal Exploitation in Vendel and Viking Age Scandinavia |
title_full_unstemmed |
Whalebone Gaming Pieces: Aspects of Marine Mammal Exploitation in Vendel and Viking Age Scandinavia |
title_sort |
whalebone gaming pieces: aspects of marine mammal exploitation in vendel and viking age scandinavia |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2018.15 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S1461957118000153 |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_source |
European Journal of Archaeology volume 21, issue 4, page 612-631 ISSN 1461-9571 1741-2722 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2018.15 |
container_title |
European Journal of Archaeology |
container_volume |
21 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
612 |
op_container_end_page |
631 |
_version_ |
1799484902671908864 |