In his lecture, Professor Dr. Felix Biermann examines the cultural-historical context and current research on early medieval silver treasures.
Among the most impressive artifacts from the early Slavic history of what is now northeastern Germany are magnificent silver hoards, some of which have been spectacularly rediscovered in recent years. They typically contain coins—initially those of Islamic empires from the East (“dirhams”), and later European coins from regions such as Scandinavia, Poland, England, and the East Frankish-German Empire. These are often accompanied by ornate pieces of jewelry, almost always cut up and broken into pieces—as “chopped silver,” valued by weight and purity, the metal served as currency in commercial transactions. These treasures bear witness to brisk trade, prosperity, artisanal craftsmanship, stately representation, and an enormously extensive communication network that linked the Baltic Sea region with large parts of Europe, Central and West Asia, and North Africa—an early form of globalization. However, they also shed light on the dark side of the era, such as the booming slave trade, the plunder economy, and violence-based silver economies as the driving forces behind the emergence and expansion of empires. Yet one central question remains unanswered to this day: Where was the beautiful silver jewelry produced, whose luster continues to fascinate us today—in Scandinavia, Poland, Kievan Rus’, the Orient, or even in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern? The silver treasures and their cultural-historical context, the questions surrounding them, and the findings of current research on this topic are the focus of this richly illustrated lecture.
Prof. Dr. Felix Biermann is a professor of medieval archaeology at the University of Szczecin and a consultant for research excavations at the State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments and Archaeology of Saxony-Anhalt (Halle [Saale]). He has been conducting research for many years on the Slavic early Middle Ages, with a particular focus on silver hoards, their coins, and jewelry.
