Speaker
Florent Audy
(National Historical Museums, Stockholm)
Description
Different indicators have been used to investigate the level of monetisation in early medieval Scandinavia, such as patterns of coin loss or volumes of coin production. In this paper, it is argued that coin jewellery can also provide interesting insights into the subject. What happened to the ancient practice of wearing coins as pendants or brooches when coins began to be produced in Scandinavia? Are there correlations between level of monetisation and fashion for coin jewellery at the local level? The insights provided by coin jewellery are very valuable: they clearly show that monetisation not only affected how coins were used, but also how coins were perceived as objects.
Primary author
Florent Audy
(National Historical Museums, Stockholm)
