Many coin hoards found on Gotland contain Muslim coins dating back to the 9th and 10th century. Gotland had a significant role in facilitating commerce between Viking Scandinavia, Viking Russia, and the Islamic world, particularly the ‘Abbasid and Samanid States. Professor Dan Carlsson has conducted extensive excavation and research on Viking Age Gotland. His study highlights the significant quantity of Islamic coinage discovered on Gotland during the Viking Age, originating from the eastern Islamic realm.
During the Viking Age, Gotland had several villages, with Paviken serving as the primary commercial hub. Islamic coins have been found in several locations on Gotland, including former small communities and bigger sites like Paviken, as well as in the countryside where they are commonly unearthed due to ploughing. Visby, the current capital of Gotland, has also uncovered Islamic coins dating back to the Viking era. We need to focus on the Island of Gotland when studying Viking connections with the Islamic world because a significant amount of material culture from the Islamic world was brought to Gotland during the Viking Age through trade and other connections between the Islamic world and Scandinavia.
Wilhelm Holmqvist reports that around 500 hoards from the Viking Age have been discovered on Gotland, with approximately 400 more uncovered in the rest of Sweden. The riches consist of about 50,000 Arabian silver pieces together with various armlets, necklaces, and other items. These were either brought straight from the east or crafted in Sweden using melted down silver coins from the East.
Holmqvist mentions that many Muslim coins were melted and used to make silver bullion or goods. This resulted in a significant amount of coins entering Gotland for various purposes, surpassing the number of Muslim coins found by archaeologists in modern times or those that may have appeared in the post-Viking era and were subsequently melted down. Since 1979, additional discoveries of Muslim coins in Gotland have been made, further supporting Gotland’s important role in the Viking Age as a hub of international trade. This was facilitated by the influx of coins from the Islamic world through trade connections between the Vikings and the Islamic regions.
The connections between the Islamic world and the Vikings significantly influenced the geography of Gotland in Sweden, not just Russia. Islamic coins, textiles, ceramics, spices, beads, and other cultural artifacts from the Islamic world were commonly utilized in the daily lives of people in Gotland. Elements of Islamic civilization such as agricultural practices, textiles, and ceramics were also adopted by the inhabitants of Gotland. Furthermore, several aspects of Islamic civilization found on Gotland were transported to the Swedish mainland, other areas of Scandinavia, and Germany.
Gotland had a significant impact on the utilization and transportation of Islamic currency and merchandise to other regions of Western Europe during the Viking Age. After the Viking Age, Gotland could no longer serve as a crucial hub for transporting products from the east to the territories west of Gotland. The significant influence of Islamic civilization, such as a large number of Islamic coins found in Gotland, had a major impact on the economy, society, and culture of Gotland.
The full extent of this impact, as well as the influence of Islamic civilization on other regions like Scandinavia and Germany through Gotland, has yet to be thoroughly evaluated and may be explored in a future edition of this work. The decrease in Islamic silver reaching Gotland during the 11th century significantly affected the island’s economy. This was partly offset by the discovery of silver mines in Germany, although only a portion of this silver made its way to Gotland. The new silver did not fully compensate for the decline in goods from the Islamic world that occurred at the end of the Viking Age.
This shift was influenced by the Pope’s encouragement for the Swedes to sever ties with the Islamic world, a topic discussed further in this work.
Muslim weighing scales, weights, and weight measuring technique utilized in Viking Age Sweden
Archaeological findings in Sweden provide evidence of Swedish Vikings producing Muslim weighing devices and weights. Ambrossiani et al. suggest that Scandinavians may have imitated the Islamic weight system, Oriental weights, inscriptions related to weights, and the practice of weighing silver.